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	0	Project Gutenberg's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
	1
	2	This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
	3	almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
	4	re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
	5	with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
	6
	7
	8	Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
	9
	10	Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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	12	Posting Date: April 18, 2011 [EBook #1661]
	13	First Posted: November 29, 2002
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	15	Language: English
	16
	17
	18	* START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *
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	23	Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez
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	32
	33	THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
	34
	35	by
	36
	37	SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
	38
	39
	40
	41	I. A Scandal in Bohemia
	42	II. The Red-headed League
	43	III. A Case of Identity
	44	IV. The Boscombe Valley Mystery
	45	V. The Five Orange Pips
	46	VI. The Man with the Twisted Lip
	47	VII. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
	48	VIII. The Adventure of the Speckled Band
	49	IX. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
	50	X. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
	51	XI. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
	52	XII. The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
	53
	54
	55
	56
	57	ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
	58
	59	I.
	60
	61	To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard
	62	him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
	63	and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt
	64	any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that
	65	one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but
	66	admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect
	67	reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a
	68	lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never
	69	spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They
	70	were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the
	71	veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner
	72	to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely
	73	adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which
	74	might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a
	75	sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power
	76	lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a
	77	nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and
	78	that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable
	79	memory.
	80
	81	I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us
	82	away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the
	83	home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first
	84	finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to
	85	absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of
	86	society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in
	87	Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from
	88	week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the
	89	drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still,
	90	as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his
	91	immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in
	92	following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which
	93	had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time
	94	to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons
	95	to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up
	96	of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee,
	97	and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so
	98	delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland.
	99	Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely
	100	shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of
	101	my former friend and companion.
	102
	103	One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was
	104	returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to
	105	civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I
	106	passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated
	107	in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the
	108	Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes
	109	again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers.
	110	His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw
	111	his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against
	112	the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head
	113	sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who
	114	knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their
	115	own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his
	116	drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new
	117	problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which
	118	had formerly been in part my own.
	119
	120	His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I
	121	think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly
	122	eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars,
	123	and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he
	124	stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular
	125	introspective fashion.
	126
	127	"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have
	128	put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you."
	129
	130	"Seven!" I answered.
	131
	132	"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,
	133	I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not
	134	tell me that you intended to go into harness."
	135
	136	"Then, how do you know?"
	137
	138	"I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting
	139	yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and
	140	careless servant girl?"
	141
	142	"My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly
	143	have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true
	144	that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful
	145	mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you
	146	deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has
	147	given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it
	148	out."
	149
	150	He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands
	151	together.
	152
	153	"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the
	154	inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it,
	155	the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they
	156	have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round
	157	the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it.
	158	Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile
	159	weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting
	160	specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a
	161	gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black
	162	mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge
	163	on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted
	164	his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce
	165	him to be an active member of the medical profession."
	166
	167	I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his
	168	process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I
	169	remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously
	170	simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each
	171	successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you
	172	explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good
	173	as yours."
	174
	175	"Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing
	176	himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe.
	177	The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen
	178	the steps which lead up from the hall to this room."
	179
	180	"Frequently."
	181
	182	"How often?"
	183
	184	"Well, some hundreds of times."
	185
	186	"Then how many are there?"
	187
	188	"How many? I don't know."
	189
	190	"Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is
	191	just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps,
	192	because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are
	193	interested in these little problems, and since you are good
	194	enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you
	195	may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick,
	196	pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table.
	197	"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud."
	198
	199	The note was undated, and without either signature or address.
	200
	201	"There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight
	202	o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a
	203	matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of
	204	the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may
	205	safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which
	206	can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all
	207	quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do
	208	not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask."
	209
	210	"This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that
	211	it means?"
	212
	213	"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before
	214	one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
	215	theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself.
	216	What do you deduce from it?"
	217
	218	I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
	219	written.
	220
	221	"The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked,
	222	endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper
	223	could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly
	224	strong and stiff."
	225
	226	"Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an
	227	English paper at all. Hold it up to the light."
	228
	229	I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a
	230	large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper.
	231
	232	"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes.
	233
	234	"The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather."
	235
	236	"Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for
	237	'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a
	238	customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for
	239	'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental
	240	Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves.
	241	"Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking
	242	country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being
	243	the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous
	244	glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you
	245	make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue
	246	triumphant cloud from his cigarette.
	247
	248	"The paper was made in Bohemia," I said.
	249
	250	"Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you
	251	note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of
	252	you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian
	253	could not have written that. It is the German who is so
	254	uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover
	255	what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and
	256	prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if
	257	I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts."
	258
	259	As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and
	260	grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the
	261	bell. Holmes whistled.
	262
	263	"A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing
	264	out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of
	265	beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in
	266	this case, Watson, if there is nothing else."
	267
	268	"I think that I had better go, Holmes."
	269
	270	"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my
	271	Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity
	272	to miss it."
	273
	274	"But your client--"
	275
	276	"Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he
	277	comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best
	278	attention."
	279
	280	A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and
	281	in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there
	282	was a loud and authoritative tap.
	283
	284	"Come in!" said Holmes.
	285
	286	A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six
	287	inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His
	288	dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked
	289	upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed
	290	across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while
	291	the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined
	292	with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch
	293	which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended
	294	halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with
	295	rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence
	296	which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a
	297	broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper
	298	part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black
	299	vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment,
	300	for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower
	301	part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character,
	302	with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive
	303	of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.
	304
	305	"You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a
	306	strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He
	307	looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to
	308	address.
	309
	310	"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and
	311	colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me
	312	in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"
	313
	314	"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.
	315	I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour
	316	and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most
	317	extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate
	318	with you alone."
	319
	320	I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me
	321	back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say
	322	before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."
	323
	324	The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said
	325	he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at
	326	the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At
	327	present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it
	328	may have an influence upon European history."
	329
	330	"I promise," said Holmes.
	331
	332	"And I."
	333
	334	"You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The
	335	august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to
	336	you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have
	337	just called myself is not exactly my own."
	338
	339	"I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly.
	340
	341	"The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution
	342	has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense
	343	scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of
	344	Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House
	345	of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia."
	346
	347	"I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself
	348	down in his armchair and closing his eyes.
	349
	350	Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid,
	351	lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him
	352	as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe.
	353	Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his
	354	gigantic client.
	355
	356	"If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he
	357	remarked, "I should be better able to advise you."
	358
	359	The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in
	360	uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he
	361	tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You
	362	are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to
	363	conceal it?"
	364
	365	"Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken
	366	before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich
	367	Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and
	368	hereditary King of Bohemia."
	369
	370	"But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down
	371	once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you
	372	can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in
	373	my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not
	374	confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I
	375	have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting
	376	you."
	377
	378	"Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.
	379
	380	"The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a
	381	lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known
	382	adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you."
	383
	384	"Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without
	385	opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of
	386	docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it
	387	was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not
	388	at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography
	389	sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a
	390	staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea
	391	fishes.
	392
	393	"Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year
	394	1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera
	395	of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in
	396	London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled
	397	with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and
	398	is now desirous of getting those letters back."
	399
	400	"Precisely so. But how--"
	401
	402	"Was there a secret marriage?"
	403
	404	"None."
	405
	406	"No legal papers or certificates?"
	407
	408	"None."
	409
	410	"Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should
	411	produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is
	412	she to prove their authenticity?"
	413
	414	"There is the writing."
	415
	416	"Pooh, pooh! Forgery."
	417
	418	"My private note-paper."
	419
	420	"Stolen."
	421
	422	"My own seal."
	423
	424	"Imitated."
	425
	426	"My photograph."
	427
	428	"Bought."
	429
	430	"We were both in the photograph."
	431
	432	"Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an
	433	indiscretion."
	434
	435	"I was mad--insane."
	436
	437	"You have compromised yourself seriously."
	438
	439	"I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now."
	440
	441	"It must be recovered."
	442
	443	"We have tried and failed."
	444
	445	"Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought."
	446
	447	"She will not sell."
	448
	449	"Stolen, then."
	450
	451	"Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked
	452	her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice
	453	she has been waylaid. There has been no result."
	454
	455	"No sign of it?"
	456
	457	"Absolutely none."
	458
	459	Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he.
	460
	461	"But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully.
	462
	463	"Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the
	464	photograph?"
	465
	466	"To ruin me."
	467
	468	"But how?"
	469
	470	"I am about to be married."
	471
	472	"So I have heard."
	473
	474	"To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the
	475	King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her
	476	family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a
	477	doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end."
	478
	479	"And Irene Adler?"
	480
	481	"Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I
	482	know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul
	483	of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and
	484	the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry
	485	another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not
	486	go--none."
	487
	488	"You are sure that she has not sent it yet?"
	489
	490	"I am sure."
	491
	492	"And why?"
	493
	494	"Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the
	495	betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday."
	496
	497	"Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That
	498	is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to
	499	look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in
	500	London for the present?"
	501
	502	"Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the
	503	Count Von Kramm."
	504
	505	"Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress."
	506
	507	"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety."
	508
	509	"Then, as to money?"
	510
	511	"You have carte blanche."
	512
	513	"Absolutely?"
	514
	515	"I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom
	516	to have that photograph."
	517
	518	"And for present expenses?"
	519
	520	The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak
	521	and laid it on the table.
	522
	523	"There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in
	524	notes," he said.
	525
	526	Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and
	527	handed it to him.
	528
	529	"And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked.
	530
	531	"Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood."
	532
	533	Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the
	534	photograph a cabinet?"
	535
	536	"It was."
	537
	538	"Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon
	539	have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added,
	540	as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If
	541	you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three
	542	o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you."
	543
	544
	545	II.
	546
	547	At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had
	548	not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the
	549	house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down
	550	beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him,
	551	however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his
	552	inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and
	553	strange features which were associated with the two crimes which
	554	I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the
	555	exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own.
	556	Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my
	557	friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of
	558	a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a
	559	pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the
	560	quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most
	561	inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable
	562	success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to
	563	enter into my head.
	564
	565	It was close upon four before the door opened, and a
	566	drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an
	567	inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room.
	568	Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of
	569	disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it
	570	was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he
	571	emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old.
	572	Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in
	573	front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.
	574
	575	"Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again
	576	until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the
	577	chair.
	578
	579	"What is it?"
	580
	581	"It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I
	582	employed my morning, or what I ended by doing."
	583
	584	"I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the
	585	habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler."
	586
	587	"Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,
	588	however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this
	589	morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a
	590	wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of
	591	them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found
	592	Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but
	593	built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock
	594	to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well
	595	furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those
	596	preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.
	597	Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window
	598	could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round
	599	it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without
	600	noting anything else of interest.
	601
	602	"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that
	603	there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the
	604	garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses,
	605	and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two
	606	fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire
	607	about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in
	608	the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but
	609	whose biographies I was compelled to listen to."
	610
	611	"And what of Irene Adler?" I asked.
	612
	613	"Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is
	614	the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the
	615	Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts,
	616	drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for
	617	dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings.
	618	Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark,
	619	handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and
	620	often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See
	621	the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him
	622	home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him.
	623	When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up
	624	and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan
	625	of campaign.
	626
	627	"This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the
	628	matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the
	629	relation between them, and what the object of his repeated
	630	visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the
	631	former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his
	632	keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this
	633	question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony
	634	Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the
	635	Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my
	636	inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to
	637	let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the
	638	situation."
	639
	640	"I am following you closely," I answered.
	641
	642	"I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab
	643	drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a
	644	remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently
	645	the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a
	646	great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the
	647	maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly
	648	at home.
	649
	650	"He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch
	651	glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and
	652	down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see
	653	nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than
	654	before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from
	655	his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he
	656	shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to
	657	the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if
	658	you do it in twenty minutes!'
	659
	660	"Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do
	661	well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau,
	662	the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under
	663	his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of
	664	the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall
	665	door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment,
	666	but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for.
	667
	668	"'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a
	669	sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.'
	670
	671	"This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing
	672	whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her
	673	landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked
	674	twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could
	675	object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign
	676	if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to
	677	twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind.
	678
	679	"My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the
	680	others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their
	681	steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid
	682	the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there
	683	save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who
	684	seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three
	685	standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side
	686	aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church.
	687	Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to
	688	me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards
	689	me.
	690
	691	"'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!'
	692
	693	"'What then?' I asked.
	694
	695	"'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.'
	696
	697	"I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was
	698	I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear,
	699	and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally
	700	assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to
	701	Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and
	702	there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady
	703	on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was
	704	the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my
	705	life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just
	706	now. It seems that there had been some informality about their
	707	license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them
	708	without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance
	709	saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in
	710	search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean
	711	to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion."
	712
	713	"This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what
	714	then?"
	715
	716	"Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if
	717	the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate
	718	very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church
	719	door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and
	720	she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as
	721	usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove
	722	away in different directions, and I went off to make my own
	723	arrangements."
	724
	725	"Which are?"
	726
	727	"Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the
	728	bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to
	729	be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want
	730	your co-operation."
	731
	732	"I shall be delighted."
	733
	734	"You don't mind breaking the law?"
	735
	736	"Not in the least."
	737
	738	"Nor running a chance of arrest?"
	739
	740	"Not in a good cause."
	741
	742	"Oh, the cause is excellent!"
	743
	744	"Then I am your man."
	745
	746	"I was sure that I might rely on you."
	747
	748	"But what is it you wish?"
	749
	750	"When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to
	751	you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that
	752	our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I
	753	have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must
	754	be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns
	755	from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her."
	756
	757	"And what then?"
	758
	759	"You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to
	760	occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must
	761	not interfere, come what may. You understand?"
	762
	763	"I am to be neutral?"
	764
	765	"To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small
	766	unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being
	767	conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the
	768	sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close
	769	to that open window."
	770
	771	"Yes."
	772
	773	"You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you."
	774
	775	"Yes."
	776
	777	"And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what
	778	I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of
	779	fire. You quite follow me?"
	780
	781	"Entirely."
	782
	783	"It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped
	784	roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,
	785	fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting.
	786	Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire,
	787	it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then
	788	walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten
	789	minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?"
	790
	791	"I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,
	792	and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry
	793	of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street."
	794
	795	"Precisely."
	796
	797	"Then you may entirely rely on me."
	798
	799	"That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I
	800	prepare for the new role I have to play."
	801
	802	He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in
	803	the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist
	804	clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white
	805	tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and
	806	benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have
	807	equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His
	808	expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every
	809	fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as
	810	science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in
	811	crime.
	812
	813	It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still
	814	wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in
	815	Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just
	816	being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge,
	817	waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such
	818	as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description,
	819	but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On
	820	the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was
	821	remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men
	822	smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his
	823	wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and
	824	several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with
	825	cigars in their mouths.
	826
	827	"You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of
	828	the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The
	829	photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are
	830	that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey
	831	Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his
	832	princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the
	833	photograph?"
	834
	835	"Where, indeed?"
	836
	837	"It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is
	838	cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's
	839	dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid
	840	and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We
	841	may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her."
	842
	843	"Where, then?"
	844
	845	"Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But
	846	I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive,
	847	and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it
	848	over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but
	849	she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be
	850	brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she
	851	had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she
	852	can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house."
	853
	854	"But it has twice been burgled."
	855
	856	"Pshaw! They did not know how to look."
	857
	858	"But how will you look?"
	859
	860	"I will not look."
	861
	862	"What then?"
	863
	864	"I will get her to show me."
	865
	866	"But she will refuse."
	867
	868	"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is
	869	her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter."
	870
	871	As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round
	872	the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which
	873	rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of
	874	the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in
	875	the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another
	876	loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce
	877	quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who
	878	took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder,
	879	who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and
	880	in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was
	881	the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who
	882	struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes
	883	dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached
	884	her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood
	885	running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to
	886	their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while
	887	a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle
	888	without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to
	889	attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her,
	890	had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her
	891	superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking
	892	back into the street.
	893
	894	"Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked.
	895
	896	"He is dead," cried several voices.
	897
	898	"No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be
	899	gone before you can get him to hospital."
	900
	901	"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the
	902	lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a
	903	gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now."
	904
	905	"He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"
	906
	907	"Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable
	908	sofa. This way, please!"
	909
	910	Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out
	911	in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings
	912	from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the
	913	blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay
	914	upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with
	915	compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I
	916	know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life
	917	than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was
	918	conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited
	919	upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery
	920	to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted
	921	to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under
	922	my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are
	923	but preventing her from injuring another.
	924
	925	Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man
	926	who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the
	927	window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the
	928	signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The
	929	word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of
	930	spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and
	931	servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds
	932	of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I
	933	caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice
	934	of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm.
	935	Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner
	936	of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my
	937	friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar.
	938	He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we
	939	had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the
	940	Edgeware Road.
	941
	942	"You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could
	943	have been better. It is all right."
	944
	945	"You have the photograph?"
	946
	947	"I know where it is."
	948
	949	"And how did you find out?"
	950
	951	"She showed me, as I told you she would."
	952
	953	"I am still in the dark."
	954
	955	"I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter
	956	was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the
	957	street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."
	958
	959	"I guessed as much."
	960
	961	"Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in
	962	the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand
	963	to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick."
	964
	965	"That also I could fathom."
	966
	967	"Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else
	968	could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room
	969	which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was
	970	determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for
	971	air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your
	972	chance."
	973
	974	"How did that help you?"
	975
	976	"It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on
	977	fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she
	978	values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have
	979	more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the
	980	Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in
	981	the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby;
	982	an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to
	983	me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious
	984	to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it.
	985	The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were
	986	enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The
	987	photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the
	988	right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a
	989	glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it
	990	was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed
	991	from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making
	992	my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to
	993	attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had
	994	come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to
	995	wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all."
	996
	997	"And now?" I asked.
	998
	999	"Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King
	1000	to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be
	1001	shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is
	1002	probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the
	1003	photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain
	1004	it with his own hands."
	1005
	1006	"And when will you call?"
	1007
	1008	"At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall
	1009	have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage
	1010	may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to
	1011	the King without delay."
	1012
	1013	We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was
	1014	searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said:
	1015
	1016	"Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes."
	1017
	1018	There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the
	1019	greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had
	1020	hurried by.
	1021
	1022	"I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the
	1023	dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have
	1024	been."
	1025
	1026
	1027	III.
	1028
	1029	I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our
	1030	toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed
	1031	into the room.
	1032
	1033	"You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by
	1034	either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.
	1035
	1036	"Not yet."
	1037
	1038	"But you have hopes?"
	1039
	1040	"I have hopes."
	1041
	1042	"Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone."
	1043
	1044	"We must have a cab."
	1045
	1046	"No, my brougham is waiting."
	1047
	1048	"Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off
	1049	once more for Briony Lodge.
	1050
	1051	"Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.
	1052
	1053	"Married! When?"
	1054
	1055	"Yesterday."
	1056
	1057	"But to whom?"
	1058
	1059	"To an English lawyer named Norton."
	1060
	1061	"But she could not love him."
	1062
	1063	"I am in hopes that she does."
	1064
	1065	"And why in hopes?"
	1066
	1067	"Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future
	1068	annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your
	1069	Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason
	1070	why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan."
	1071
	1072	"It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own
	1073	station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a
	1074	moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in
	1075	Serpentine Avenue.
	1076
	1077	The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood
	1078	upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped
	1079	from the brougham.
	1080
	1081	"Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she.
	1082
	1083	"I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a
	1084	questioning and rather startled gaze.
	1085
	1086	"Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She
	1087	left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing
	1088	Cross for the Continent."
	1089
	1090	"What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and
	1091	surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?"
	1092
	1093	"Never to return."
	1094
	1095	"And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost."
	1096
	1097	"We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the
	1098	drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was
	1099	scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and
	1100	open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before
	1101	her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small
	1102	sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a
	1103	photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler
	1104	herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to
	1105	"Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend
	1106	tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at
	1107	midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way:
	1108
	1109	"MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You
	1110	took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a
	1111	suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I
	1112	began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had
	1113	been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly
	1114	be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this,
	1115	you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became
	1116	suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind
	1117	old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress
	1118	myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage
	1119	of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to
	1120	watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call
	1121	them, and came down just as you departed.
	1122
	1123	"Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was
	1124	really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock
	1125	Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and
	1126	started for the Temple to see my husband.
	1127
	1128	"We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by
	1129	so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when
	1130	you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in
	1131	peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may
	1132	do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly
	1133	wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a
	1134	weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might
	1135	take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to
	1136	possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
	1137
	1138	"Very truly yours,
	1139	"IRENE NORTON, née ADLER."
	1140
	1141	"What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when
	1142	we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick
	1143	and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen?
	1144	Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?"
	1145
	1146	"From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a
	1147	very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am
	1148	sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business
	1149	to a more successful conclusion."
	1150
	1151	"On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be
	1152	more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The
	1153	photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire."
	1154
	1155	"I am glad to hear your Majesty say so."
	1156
	1157	"I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can
	1158	reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from
	1159	his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.
	1160
	1161	"Your Majesty has something which I should value even more
	1162	highly," said Holmes.
	1163
	1164	"You have but to name it."
	1165
	1166	"This photograph!"
	1167
	1168	The King stared at him in amazement.
	1169
	1170	"Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it."
	1171
	1172	"I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the
	1173	matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He
	1174	bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the
	1175	King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his
	1176	chambers.
	1177
	1178	And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom
	1179	of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were
	1180	beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the
	1181	cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And
	1182	when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her
	1183	photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman.
	1184
	1185
	1186
	1187	ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
	1188
	1189	I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
	1190	autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a
	1191	very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair.
	1192	With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when
	1193	Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door
	1194	behind me.
	1195
	1196	"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear
	1197	Watson," he said cordially.
	1198
	1199	"I was afraid that you were engaged."
	1200
	1201	"So I am. Very much so."
	1202
	1203	"Then I can wait in the next room."
	1204
	1205	"Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and
	1206	helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no
	1207	doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also."
	1208
	1209	The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of
	1210	greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small
	1211	fat-encircled eyes.
	1212
	1213	"Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and
	1214	putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in
	1215	judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love
	1216	of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum
	1217	routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by
	1218	the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you
	1219	will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own
	1220	little adventures."
	1221
	1222	"Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I
	1223	observed.
	1224
	1225	"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we
	1226	went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary
	1227	Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary
	1228	combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more
	1229	daring than any effort of the imagination."
	1230
	1231	"A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting."
	1232
	1233	"You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my
	1234	view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you
	1235	until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to
	1236	be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call
	1237	upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to
	1238	be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some
	1239	time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique
	1240	things are very often connected not with the larger but with the
	1241	smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for
	1242	doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I
	1243	have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present
	1244	case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is
	1245	certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to.
	1246	Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to
	1247	recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend
	1248	Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the
	1249	peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every
	1250	possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some
	1251	slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide
	1252	myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my
	1253	memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the
	1254	facts are, to the best of my belief, unique."
	1255
	1256	The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
	1257	little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the
	1258	inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the
	1259	advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper
	1260	flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and
	1261	endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the
	1262	indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance.
	1263
	1264	I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor
	1265	bore every mark of being an average commonplace British
	1266	tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey
	1267	shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat,
	1268	unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy
	1269	Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as
	1270	an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a
	1271	wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether,
	1272	look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save
	1273	his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and
	1274	discontent upon his features.
	1275
	1276	Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook
	1277	his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.
	1278	"Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual
	1279	labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has
	1280	been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of
	1281	writing lately, I can deduce nothing else."
	1282
	1283	Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger
	1284	upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
	1285
	1286	"How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
	1287	Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did
	1288	manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's
	1289	carpenter."
	1290
	1291	"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
	1292	than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
	1293	developed."
	1294
	1295	"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
	1296
	1297	"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
	1298	especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
	1299	use an arc-and-compass breastpin."
	1300
	1301	"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
	1302
	1303	"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
	1304	five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the
	1305	elbow where you rest it upon the desk?"
	1306
	1307	"Well, but China?"
	1308
	1309	"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right
	1310	wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small
	1311	study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature
	1312	of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a
	1313	delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I
	1314	see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter
	1315	becomes even more simple."
	1316
	1317	Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I
	1318	thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see
	1319	that there was nothing in it, after all."
	1320
	1321	"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake
	1322	in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my
	1323	poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I
	1324	am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
	1325
	1326	"Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger
	1327	planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began
	1328	it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
	1329
	1330	I took the paper from him and read as follows:
	1331
	1332	"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late
	1333	Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now
	1334	another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a
	1335	salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All
	1336	red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age
	1337	of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at
	1338	eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7
	1339	Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
	1340
	1341	"What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice
	1342	read over the extraordinary announcement.
	1343
	1344	Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when
	1345	in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?"
	1346	said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us
	1347	all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this
	1348	advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note,
	1349	Doctor, of the paper and the date."
	1350
	1351	"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months
	1352	ago."
	1353
	1354	"Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?"
	1355
	1356	"Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock
	1357	Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small
	1358	pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a
	1359	very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than
	1360	just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants,
	1361	but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but
	1362	that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the
	1363	business."
	1364
	1365	"What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
	1366
	1367	"His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth,
	1368	either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter
	1369	assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better
	1370	himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after
	1371	all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?"
	1372
	1373	"Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who
	1374	comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience
	1375	among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is
	1376	not as remarkable as your advertisement."
	1377
	1378	"Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a
	1379	fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought
	1380	to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar
	1381	like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his
	1382	main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice
	1383	in him."
	1384
	1385	"He is still with you, I presume?"
	1386
	1387	"Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
	1388	cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the
	1389	house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very
	1390	quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads
	1391	and pay our debts, if we do nothing more.
	1392
	1393	"The first thing that put us out was that advertisement.
	1394	Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight
	1395	weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
	1396
	1397	"'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'
	1398
	1399	"'Why that?' I asks.
	1400
	1401	"'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the
	1402	Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who
	1403	gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than
	1404	there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what
	1405	to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's
	1406	a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.'
	1407
	1408	"'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a
	1409	very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of
	1410	my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting
	1411	my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what
	1412	was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.
	1413
	1414	"'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he
	1415	asked with his eyes open.
	1416
	1417	"'Never.'
	1418
	1419	"'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one
	1420	of the vacancies.'
	1421
	1422	"'And what are they worth?' I asked.
	1423
	1424	"'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,
	1425	and it need not interfere very much with one's other
	1426	occupations.'
	1427
	1428	"Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears,
	1429	for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an
	1430	extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
	1431
	1432	"'Tell me all about it,' said I.
	1433
	1434	"'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for
	1435	yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address
	1436	where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out,
	1437	the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah
	1438	Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself
	1439	red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men;
	1440	so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous
	1441	fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the
	1442	interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of
	1443	that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to
	1444	do.'
	1445
	1446	"'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who
	1447	would apply.'
	1448
	1449	"'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is
	1450	really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had
	1451	started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the
	1452	old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your
	1453	applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but
	1454	real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr.
	1455	Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be
	1456	worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a
	1457	few hundred pounds.'
	1458
	1459	"Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,
	1460	that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed
	1461	to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I
	1462	stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent
	1463	Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might
	1464	prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for
	1465	the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to
	1466	have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for
	1467	the address that was given us in the advertisement.
	1468
	1469	"I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From
	1470	north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in
	1471	his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement.
	1472	Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court
	1473	looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought
	1474	there were so many in the whole country as were brought together
	1475	by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they
	1476	were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay;
	1477	but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real
	1478	vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I
	1479	would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear
	1480	of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and
	1481	pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up
	1482	to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream
	1483	upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back
	1484	dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found
	1485	ourselves in the office."
	1486
	1487	"Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked
	1488	Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge
	1489	pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement."
	1490
	1491	"There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs
	1492	and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that
	1493	was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate
	1494	as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in
	1495	them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem
	1496	to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn
	1497	came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of
	1498	the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he
	1499	might have a private word with us.
	1500
	1501	"'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is
	1502	willing to fill a vacancy in the League.'
	1503
	1504	"'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has
	1505	every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
	1506	fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and
	1507	gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he
	1508	plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my
	1509	success.
	1510
	1511	"'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will,
	1512	however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.'
	1513	With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I
	1514	yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as
	1515	he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we
	1516	have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and
	1517	once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which
	1518	would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the
	1519	window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the
	1520	vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below,
	1521	and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there
	1522	was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the
	1523	manager.
	1524
	1525	"'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of
	1526	the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are
	1527	you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'
	1528
	1529	"I answered that I had not.
	1530
	1531	"His face fell immediately.
	1532
	1533	"'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am
	1534	sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the
	1535	propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their
	1536	maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a
	1537	bachelor.'
	1538
	1539	"My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was
	1540	not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for
	1541	a few minutes he said that it would be all right.
	1542
	1543	"'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be
	1544	fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a
	1545	head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your
	1546	new duties?'
	1547
	1548	"'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,'
	1549	said I.
	1550
	1551	"'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding.
	1552	'I should be able to look after that for you.'
	1553
	1554	"'What would be the hours?' I asked.
	1555
	1556	"'Ten to two.'
	1557
	1558	"Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
	1559	Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just
	1560	before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in
	1561	the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man,
	1562	and that he would see to anything that turned up.
	1563
	1564	"'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?'
	1565
	1566	"'Is 4 pounds a week.'
	1567
	1568	"'And the work?'
	1569
	1570	"'Is purely nominal.'
	1571
	1572	"'What do you call purely nominal?'
	1573
	1574	"'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the
	1575	building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole
	1576	position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You
	1577	don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office
	1578	during that time.'
	1579
	1580	"'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
	1581	said I.
	1582
	1583	"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness
	1584	nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose
	1585	your billet.'
	1586
	1587	"'And the work?'
	1588
	1589	"'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first
	1590	volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and
	1591	blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be
	1592	ready to-morrow?'
	1593
	1594	"'Certainly,' I answered.
	1595
	1596	"'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you
	1597	once more on the important position which you have been fortunate
	1598	enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with
	1599	my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased
	1600	at my own good fortune.
	1601
	1602	"Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in
	1603	low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the
	1604	whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its
	1605	object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past
	1606	belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay
	1607	such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the
	1608	'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to
	1609	cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the
	1610	whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look
	1611	at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a
	1612	quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for
	1613	Pope's Court.
	1614
	1615	"Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
	1616	possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross
	1617	was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off
	1618	upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from
	1619	time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he
	1620	bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had
	1621	written, and locked the door of the office after me.
	1622
	1623	"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the
	1624	manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my
	1625	week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week
	1626	after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I
	1627	left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only
	1628	once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at
	1629	all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an
	1630	instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet
	1631	was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk
	1632	the loss of it.
	1633
	1634	"Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about
	1635	Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and
	1636	hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very
	1637	long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly
	1638	filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole
	1639	business came to an end."
	1640
	1641	"To an end?"
	1642
	1643	"Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as
	1644	usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a
	1645	little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the
	1646	panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."
	1647
	1648	He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet
	1649	of note-paper. It read in this fashion:
	1650
	1651	THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
	1652
	1653	IS
	1654
	1655	DISSOLVED.
	1656
	1657	October 9, 1890.
	1658
	1659	Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the
	1660	rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so
	1661	completely overtopped every other consideration that we both
	1662	burst out into a roar of laughter.
	1663
	1664	"I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our
	1665	client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can
	1666	do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere."
	1667
	1668	"No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from
	1669	which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for
	1670	the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you
	1671	will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it.
	1672	Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the
	1673	door?"
	1674
	1675	"I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called
	1676	at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything
	1677	about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant
	1678	living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me
	1679	what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had
	1680	never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan
	1681	Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him.
	1682
	1683	"'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.'
	1684
	1685	"'What, the red-headed man?'
	1686
	1687	"'Yes.'
	1688
	1689	"'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor
	1690	and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new
	1691	premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.'
	1692
	1693	"'Where could I find him?'
	1694
	1695	"'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17
	1696	King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.'
	1697
	1698	"I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was
	1699	a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever
	1700	heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross."
	1701
	1702	"And what did you do then?" asked Holmes.
	1703
	1704	"I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
	1705	assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
	1706	that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite
	1707	good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place
	1708	without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough
	1709	to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right
	1710	away to you."
	1711
	1712	"And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an
	1713	exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it.
	1714	From what you have told me I think that it is possible that
	1715	graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear."
	1716
	1717	"Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four
	1718	pound a week."
	1719
	1720	"As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do
	1721	not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary
	1722	league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some
	1723	30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have
	1724	gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have
	1725	lost nothing by them."
	1726
	1727	"No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are,
	1728	and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a
	1729	prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it
	1730	cost them two and thirty pounds."
	1731
	1732	"We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first,
	1733	one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who
	1734	first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he
	1735	been with you?"
	1736
	1737	"About a month then."
	1738
	1739	"How did he come?"
	1740
	1741	"In answer to an advertisement."
	1742
	1743	"Was he the only applicant?"
	1744
	1745	"No, I had a dozen."
	1746
	1747	"Why did you pick him?"
	1748
	1749	"Because he was handy and would come cheap."
	1750
	1751	"At half-wages, in fact."
	1752
	1753	"Yes."
	1754
	1755	"What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?"
	1756
	1757	"Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
	1758	though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon
	1759	his forehead."
	1760
	1761	Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought
	1762	as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are
	1763	pierced for earrings?"
	1764
	1765	"Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he
	1766	was a lad."
	1767
	1768	"Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still
	1769	with you?"
	1770
	1771	"Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him."
	1772
	1773	"And has your business been attended to in your absence?"
	1774
	1775	"Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a
	1776	morning."
	1777
	1778	"That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an
	1779	opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is
	1780	Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."
	1781
	1782	"Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what
	1783	do you make of it all?"
	1784
	1785	"I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most
	1786	mysterious business."
	1787
	1788	"As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less
	1789	mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
	1790	crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is
	1791	the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this
	1792	matter."
	1793
	1794	"What are you going to do, then?" I asked.
	1795
	1796	"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I
	1797	beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled
	1798	himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his
	1799	hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his
	1800	black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird.
	1801	I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and
	1802	indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his
	1803	chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put
	1804	his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
	1805
	1806	"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he
	1807	remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare
	1808	you for a few hours?"
	1809
	1810	"I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very
	1811	absorbing."
	1812
	1813	"Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City
	1814	first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that
	1815	there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is
	1816	rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is
	1817	introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!"
	1818
	1819	We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
	1820	walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular
	1821	story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky,
	1822	little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy
	1823	two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in
	1824	enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded
	1825	laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and
	1826	uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with
	1827	"JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced
	1828	the place where our red-headed client carried on his business.
	1829	Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side
	1830	and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between
	1831	puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down
	1832	again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally
	1833	he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously
	1834	upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up
	1835	to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a
	1836	bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step
	1837	in.
	1838
	1839	"Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would
	1840	go from here to the Strand."
	1841
	1842	"Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly,
	1843	closing the door.
	1844
	1845	"Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is,
	1846	in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring
	1847	I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known
	1848	something of him before."
	1849
	1850	"Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good
	1851	deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you
	1852	inquired your way merely in order that you might see him."
	1853
	1854	"Not him."
	1855
	1856	"What then?"
	1857
	1858	"The knees of his trousers."
	1859
	1860	"And what did you see?"
	1861
	1862	"What I expected to see."
	1863
	1864	"Why did you beat the pavement?"
	1865
	1866	"My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We
	1867	are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg
	1868	Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it."
	1869
	1870	The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the
	1871	corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a
	1872	contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was
	1873	one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City
	1874	to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense
	1875	stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward,
	1876	while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of
	1877	pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line
	1878	of fine shops and stately business premises that they really
	1879	abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square
	1880	which we had just quitted.
	1881
	1882	"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing
	1883	along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the
	1884	houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of
	1885	London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little
	1886	newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank,
	1887	the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building
	1888	depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now,
	1889	Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A
	1890	sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where
	1891	all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no
	1892	red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums."
	1893
	1894	My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a
	1895	very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All
	1896	the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect
	1897	happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the
	1898	music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes
	1899	were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the
	1900	relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was
	1901	possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature
	1902	alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and
	1903	astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction
	1904	against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally
	1905	predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from
	1906	extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was
	1907	never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been
	1908	lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his
	1909	black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase
	1910	would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning
	1911	power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were
	1912	unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a
	1913	man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him
	1914	that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I
	1915	felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set
	1916	himself to hunt down.
	1917
	1918	"You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we
	1919	emerged.
	1920
	1921	"Yes, it would be as well."
	1922
	1923	"And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
	1924	business at Coburg Square is serious."
	1925
	1926	"Why serious?"
	1927
	1928	"A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to
	1929	believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being
	1930	Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help
	1931	to-night."
	1932
	1933	"At what time?"
	1934
	1935	"Ten will be early enough."
	1936
	1937	"I shall be at Baker Street at ten."
	1938
	1939	"Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger,
	1940	so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his
	1941	hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the
	1942	crowd.
	1943
	1944	I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was
	1945	always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings
	1946	with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had
	1947	seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that
	1948	he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to
	1949	happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and
	1950	grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought
	1951	over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed
	1952	copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg
	1953	Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me.
	1954	What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed?
	1955	Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from
	1956	Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a
	1957	formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to
	1958	puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside
	1959	until night should bring an explanation.
	1960
	1961	It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my
	1962	way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker
	1963	Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered
	1964	the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering
	1965	his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men,
	1966	one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police
	1967	agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a
	1968	very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat.
	1969
	1970	"Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his
	1971	pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack.
	1972	"Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me
	1973	introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in
	1974	to-night's adventure."
	1975
	1976	"We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in
	1977	his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for
	1978	starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do
	1979	the running down."
	1980
	1981	"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,"
	1982	observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily.
	1983
	1984	"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said
	1985	the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which
	1986	are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical
	1987	and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It
	1988	is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of
	1989	the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly
	1990	correct than the official force."
	1991
	1992	"Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the
	1993	stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber.
	1994	It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I
	1995	have not had my rubber."
	1996
	1997	"I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will
	1998	play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and
	1999	that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather,
	2000	the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will
	2001	be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands."
	2002
	2003	"John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a
	2004	young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his
	2005	profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on
	2006	any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John
	2007	Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been
	2008	to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and
	2009	though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to
	2010	find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week,
	2011	and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next.
	2012	I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him
	2013	yet."
	2014
	2015	"I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
	2016	I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I
	2017	agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is
	2018	past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two
	2019	will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the
	2020	second."
	2021
	2022	Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive
	2023	and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in
	2024	the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit
	2025	streets until we emerged into Farrington Street.
	2026
	2027	"We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow
	2028	Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
	2029	matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is
	2030	not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession.
	2031	He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as
	2032	tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we
	2033	are, and they are waiting for us."
	2034
	2035	We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had
	2036	found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and,
	2037	following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a
	2038	narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us.
	2039	Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive
	2040	iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding
	2041	stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr.
	2042	Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us
	2043	down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a
	2044	third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all
	2045	round with crates and massive boxes.
	2046
	2047	"You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he
	2048	held up the lantern and gazed about him.
	2049
	2050	"Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon
	2051	the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite
	2052	hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise.
	2053
	2054	"I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes
	2055	severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our
	2056	expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit
	2057	down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?"
	2058
	2059	The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a
	2060	very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his
	2061	knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens,
	2062	began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few
	2063	seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again
	2064	and put his glass in his pocket.
	2065
	2066	"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can
	2067	hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed.
	2068	Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their
	2069	work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at
	2070	present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of
	2071	the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr.
	2072	Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to
	2073	you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of
	2074	London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at
	2075	present."
	2076
	2077	"It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had
	2078	several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it."
	2079
	2080	"Your French gold?"
	2081
	2082	"Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources
	2083	and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of
	2084	France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to
	2085	unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The
	2086	crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between
	2087	layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at
	2088	present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the
	2089	directors have had misgivings upon the subject."
	2090
	2091	"Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is
	2092	time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an
	2093	hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr.
	2094	Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern."
	2095
	2096	"And sit in the dark?"
	2097
	2098	"I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and
	2099	I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your
	2100	rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have
	2101	gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And,
	2102	first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men,
	2103	and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us
	2104	some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate,
	2105	and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a
	2106	light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no
	2107	compunction about shooting them down."
	2108
	2109	I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case
	2110	behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front
	2111	of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute
	2112	darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot
	2113	metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready
	2114	to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked
	2115	up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and
	2116	subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the
	2117	vault.
	2118
	2119	"They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back
	2120	through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have
	2121	done what I asked you, Jones?"
	2122
	2123	"I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door."
	2124
	2125	"Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent
	2126	and wait."
	2127
	2128	What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but
	2129	an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must
	2130	have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs
	2131	were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my
	2132	nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my
	2133	hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle
	2134	breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper,
	2135	heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note
	2136	of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case
	2137	in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint
	2138	of a light.
	2139
	2140	At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then
	2141	it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then,
	2142	without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand
	2143	appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the
	2144	centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the
	2145	hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then
	2146	it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark
	2147	again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between
	2148	the stones.
	2149
	2150	Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending,
	2151	tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon
	2152	its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed
	2153	the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut,
	2154	boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand
	2155	on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and
	2156	waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another
	2157	instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after
	2158	him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face
	2159	and a shock of very red hair.
	2160
	2161	"It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the
	2162	bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!"
	2163
	2164	Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the
	2165	collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of
	2166	rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed
	2167	upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came
	2168	down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone
	2169	floor.
	2170
	2171	"It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no
	2172	chance at all."
	2173
	2174	"So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy
	2175	that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his
	2176	coat-tails."
	2177
	2178	"There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes.
	2179
	2180	"Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I
	2181	must compliment you."
	2182
	2183	"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new
	2184	and effective."
	2185
	2186	"You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker
	2187	at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the
	2188	derbies."
	2189
	2190	"I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,"
	2191	remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists.
	2192	"You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have
	2193	the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and
	2194	'please.'"
	2195
	2196	"All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would
	2197	you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry
	2198	your Highness to the police-station?"
	2199
	2200	"That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow
	2201	to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the
	2202	detective.
	2203
	2204	"Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them
	2205	from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or
	2206	repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated
	2207	in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts
	2208	at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience."
	2209
	2210	"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.
	2211	John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over
	2212	this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond
	2213	that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in
	2214	many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of
	2215	the Red-headed League."
	2216
	2217
	2218	"You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning
	2219	as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it
	2220	was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible
	2221	object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of
	2222	the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get
	2223	this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of
	2224	hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but,
	2225	really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was
	2226	no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his
	2227	accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw
	2228	him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands?
	2229	They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary
	2230	office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and
	2231	together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the
	2232	week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for
	2233	half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
	2234	for securing the situation."
	2235
	2236	"But how could you guess what the motive was?"
	2237
	2238	"Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a
	2239	mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The
	2240	man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his
	2241	house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and
	2242	such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something
	2243	out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's
	2244	fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the
	2245	cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then
	2246	I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I
	2247	had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in
	2248	London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which
	2249	took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once
	2250	more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel
	2251	to some other building.
	2252
	2253	"So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
	2254	surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was
	2255	ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind.
	2256	It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the
	2257	assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had
	2258	never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his
	2259	face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have
	2260	remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of
	2261	those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they
	2262	were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and
	2263	Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I
	2264	had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I
	2265	called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank
	2266	directors, with the result that you have seen."
	2267
	2268	"And how could you tell that they would make their attempt
	2269	to-night?" I asked.
	2270
	2271	"Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
	2272	they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other
	2273	words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
	2274	that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the
	2275	bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than
	2276	any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape.
	2277	For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night."
	2278
	2279	"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned
	2280	admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings
	2281	true."
	2282
	2283	"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already
	2284	feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort
	2285	to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little
	2286	problems help me to do so."
	2287
	2288	"And you are a benefactor of the race," said I.
	2289
	2290	He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of
	2291	some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre
	2292	c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand."
	2293
	2294
	2295
	2296	ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY
	2297
	2298	"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side
	2299	of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely
	2300	stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We
	2301	would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere
	2302	commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window
	2303	hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the
	2304	roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the
	2305	strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the
	2306	wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and
	2307	leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with
	2308	its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and
	2309	unprofitable."
	2310
	2311	"And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which
	2312	come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and
	2313	vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to
	2314	its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed,
	2315	neither fascinating nor artistic."
	2316
	2317	"A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a
	2318	realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the
	2319	police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the
	2320	platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an
	2321	observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend
	2322	upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
	2323
	2324	I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking
	2325	so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser
	2326	and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout
	2327	three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is
	2328	strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper
	2329	from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the
	2330	first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his
	2331	wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without
	2332	reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of
	2333	course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the
	2334	bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of
	2335	writers could invent nothing more crude."
	2336
	2337	"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,"
	2338	said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This
	2339	is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged
	2340	in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The
	2341	husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the
	2342	conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of
	2343	winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling
	2344	them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely
	2345	to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a
	2346	pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over
	2347	you in your example."
	2348
	2349	He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in
	2350	the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his
	2351	homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon
	2352	it.
	2353
	2354	"Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks.
	2355	It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my
	2356	assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers."
	2357
	2358	"And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which
	2359	sparkled upon his finger.
	2360
	2361	"It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in
	2362	which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it
	2363	even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of
	2364	my little problems."
	2365
	2366	"And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest.
	2367
	2368	"Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of
	2369	interest. They are important, you understand, without being
	2370	interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in
	2371	unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation,
	2372	and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the
	2373	charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the
	2374	simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is
	2375	the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter
	2376	which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing
	2377	which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,
	2378	that I may have something better before very many minutes are
	2379	over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken."
	2380
	2381	He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted
	2382	blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street.
	2383	Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite
	2384	there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck,
	2385	and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was
	2386	tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her
	2387	ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous,
	2388	hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated
	2389	backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove
	2390	buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves
	2391	the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp
	2392	clang of the bell.
	2393
	2394	"I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his
	2395	cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always
	2396	means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure
	2397	that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet
	2398	even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously
	2399	wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom
	2400	is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love
	2401	matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or
	2402	grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts."
	2403
	2404	As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons
	2405	entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself
	2406	loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed
	2407	merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed
	2408	her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and,
	2409	having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked
	2410	her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was
	2411	peculiar to him.
	2412
	2413	"Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a
	2414	little trying to do so much typewriting?"
	2415
	2416	"I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters
	2417	are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport
	2418	of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear
	2419	and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've
	2420	heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know
	2421	all that?"
	2422
	2423	"Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know
	2424	things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others
	2425	overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?"
	2426
	2427	"I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege,
	2428	whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had
	2429	given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as
	2430	much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in
	2431	my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and
	2432	I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel."
	2433
	2434	"Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked
	2435	Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to
	2436	the ceiling.
	2437
	2438	Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss
	2439	Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said,
	2440	"for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr.
	2441	Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to
	2442	the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he
	2443	would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done,
	2444	it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away
	2445	to you."
	2446
	2447	"Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the
	2448	name is different."
	2449
	2450	"Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny,
	2451	too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself."
	2452
	2453	"And your mother is alive?"
	2454
	2455	"Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr.
	2456	Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and
	2457	a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father
	2458	was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy
	2459	business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the
	2460	foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the
	2461	business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines.
	2462	They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't
	2463	near as much as father could have got if he had been alive."
	2464
	2465	I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this
	2466	rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he
	2467	had listened with the greatest concentration of attention.
	2468
	2469	"Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the
	2470	business?"
	2471
	2472	"Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle
	2473	Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per
	2474	cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can
	2475	only touch the interest."
	2476
	2477	"You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so
	2478	large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the
	2479	bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in
	2480	every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely
	2481	upon an income of about 60 pounds."
	2482
	2483	"I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you
	2484	understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a
	2485	burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while
	2486	I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the
	2487	time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it
	2488	over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I
	2489	earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can
	2490	often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day."
	2491
	2492	"You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes.
	2493	"This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as
	2494	freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your
	2495	connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel."
	2496
	2497	A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked
	2498	nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the
	2499	gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets
	2500	when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and
	2501	sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He
	2502	never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I
	2503	wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I
	2504	was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to
	2505	prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all
	2506	father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing
	2507	fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much
	2508	as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do,
	2509	he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went,
	2510	mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it
	2511	was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel."
	2512
	2513	"I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from
	2514	France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball."
	2515
	2516	"Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and
	2517	shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying
	2518	anything to a woman, for she would have her way."
	2519
	2520	"I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a
	2521	gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel."
	2522
	2523	"Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if
	2524	we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to
	2525	say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father
	2526	came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house
	2527	any more."
	2528
	2529	"No?"
	2530
	2531	"Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He
	2532	wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to
	2533	say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But
	2534	then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to
	2535	begin with, and I had not got mine yet."
	2536
	2537	"But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see
	2538	you?"
	2539
	2540	"Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer
	2541	wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each
	2542	other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he
	2543	used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so
	2544	there was no need for father to know."
	2545
	2546	"Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?"
	2547
	2548	"Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that
	2549	we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in
	2550	Leadenhall Street--and--"
	2551
	2552	"What office?"
	2553
	2554	"That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know."
	2555
	2556	"Where did he live, then?"
	2557
	2558	"He slept on the premises."
	2559
	2560	"And you don't know his address?"
	2561
	2562	"No--except that it was Leadenhall Street."
	2563
	2564	"Where did you address your letters, then?"
	2565
	2566	"To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called
	2567	for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be
	2568	chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady,
	2569	so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't
	2570	have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come
	2571	from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the
	2572	machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he
	2573	was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think
	2574	of."
	2575
	2576	"It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom
	2577	of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
	2578	Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
	2579
	2580	"He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me
	2581	in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to
	2582	be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his
	2583	voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he
	2584	was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat,
	2585	and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always
	2586	well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just
	2587	as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."
	2588
	2589	"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather,
	2590	returned to France?"
	2591
	2592	"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we
	2593	should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest
	2594	and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever
	2595	happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite
	2596	right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion.
	2597	Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder
	2598	of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the
	2599	week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to
	2600	mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother
	2601	said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like
	2602	that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as
	2603	he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do
	2604	anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the
	2605	company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on
	2606	the very morning of the wedding."
	2607
	2608	"It missed him, then?"
	2609
	2610	"Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."
	2611
	2612	"Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for
	2613	the Friday. Was it to be in church?"
	2614
	2615	"Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near
	2616	King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St.
	2617	Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were
	2618	two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a
	2619	four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the
	2620	street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler
	2621	drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and
	2622	when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one
	2623	there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become
	2624	of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was
	2625	last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything
	2626	since then to throw any light upon what became of him."
	2627
	2628	"It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said
	2629	Holmes.
	2630
	2631	"Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all
	2632	the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to
	2633	be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to
	2634	separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him,
	2635	and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed
	2636	strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since
	2637	gives a meaning to it."
	2638
	2639	"Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some
	2640	unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?"
	2641
	2642	"Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he
	2643	would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw
	2644	happened."
	2645
	2646	"But you have no notion as to what it could have been?"
	2647
	2648	"None."
	2649
	2650	"One more question. How did your mother take the matter?"
	2651
	2652	"She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter
	2653	again."
	2654
	2655	"And your father? Did you tell him?"
	2656
	2657	"Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had
	2658	happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said,
	2659	what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of
	2660	the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my
	2661	money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him,
	2662	there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about
	2663	money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what
	2664	could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me
	2665	half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She
	2666	pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob
	2667	heavily into it.
	2668
	2669	"I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and
	2670	I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the
	2671	weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind
	2672	dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel
	2673	vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life."
	2674
	2675	"Then you don't think I'll see him again?"
	2676
	2677	"I fear not."
	2678
	2679	"Then what has happened to him?"
	2680
	2681	"You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an
	2682	accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can
	2683	spare."
	2684
	2685	"I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she.
	2686	"Here is the slip and here are four letters from him."
	2687
	2688	"Thank you. And your address?"
	2689
	2690	"No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell."
	2691
	2692	"Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your
	2693	father's place of business?"
	2694
	2695	"He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers
	2696	of Fenchurch Street."
	2697
	2698	"Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will
	2699	leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given
	2700	you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it
	2701	to affect your life."
	2702
	2703	"You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be
	2704	true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back."
	2705
	2706	For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was
	2707	something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which
	2708	compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon
	2709	the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever
	2710	she might be summoned.
	2711
	2712	Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips
	2713	still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him,
	2714	and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down
	2715	from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a
	2716	counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with
	2717	the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of
	2718	infinite languor in his face.
	2719
	2720	"Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found
	2721	her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way,
	2722	is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you
	2723	consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of
	2724	the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however,
	2725	there were one or two details which were new to me. But the
	2726	maiden herself was most instructive."
	2727
	2728	"You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite
	2729	invisible to me," I remarked.
	2730
	2731	"Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to
	2732	look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring
	2733	you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of
	2734	thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace.
	2735	Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe
	2736	it."
	2737
	2738	"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a
	2739	feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
	2740	sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her
	2741	dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little
	2742	purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and
	2743	were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't
	2744	observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a
	2745	general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable,
	2746	easy-going way."
	2747
	2748	Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.
	2749
	2750	"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
	2751	really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed
	2752	everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and
	2753	you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general
	2754	impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My
	2755	first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is
	2756	perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you
	2757	observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most
	2758	useful material for showing traces. The double line a little
	2759	above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table,
	2760	was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type,
	2761	leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side
	2762	of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the
	2763	broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and,
	2764	observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I
	2765	ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed
	2766	to surprise her."
	2767
	2768	"It surprised me."
	2769
	2770	"But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and
	2771	interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots
	2772	which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were
	2773	really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and
	2774	the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower
	2775	buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and
	2776	fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly
	2777	dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned,
	2778	it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry."
	2779
	2780	"And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by
	2781	my friend's incisive reasoning.
	2782
	2783	"I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving
	2784	home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right
	2785	glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see
	2786	that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had
	2787	written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been
	2788	this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.
	2789	All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back
	2790	to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised
	2791	description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?"
	2792
	2793	I held the little printed slip to the light.
	2794
	2795	"Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman
	2796	named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height;
	2797	strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in
	2798	the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted
	2799	glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen,
	2800	in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert
	2801	chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over
	2802	elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in
	2803	Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--"
	2804
	2805	"That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued,
	2806	glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no
	2807	clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There
	2808	is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike
	2809	you."
	2810
	2811	"They are typewritten," I remarked.
	2812
	2813	"Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the
	2814	neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you
	2815	see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is
	2816	rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in
	2817	fact, we may call it conclusive."
	2818
	2819	"Of what?"
	2820
	2821	"My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it
	2822	bears upon the case?"
	2823
	2824	"I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able
	2825	to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were
	2826	instituted."
	2827
	2828	"No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,
	2829	which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the
	2830	other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking
	2831	him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow
	2832	evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the
	2833	male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the
	2834	answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem
	2835	upon the shelf for the interim."
	2836
	2837	I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers
	2838	of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that
	2839	he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy
	2840	demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had
	2841	been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in
	2842	the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler
	2843	photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the
	2844	Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with
	2845	the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle
	2846	indeed which he could not unravel.
	2847
	2848	I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the
	2849	conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would
	2850	find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up
	2851	to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary
	2852	Sutherland.
	2853
	2854	A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own
	2855	attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at
	2856	the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six
	2857	o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a
	2858	hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too
	2859	late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found
	2860	Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin
	2861	form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable
	2862	array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell
	2863	of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the
	2864	chemical work which was so dear to him.
	2865
	2866	"Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered.
	2867
	2868	"Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta."
	2869
	2870	"No, no, the mystery!" I cried.
	2871
	2872	"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon.
	2873	There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said
	2874	yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback
	2875	is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel."
	2876
	2877	"Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss
	2878	Sutherland?"
	2879
	2880	The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet
	2881	opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the
	2882	passage and a tap at the door.
	2883
	2884	"This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said
	2885	Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at
	2886	six. Come in!"
	2887
	2888	The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some
	2889	thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a
	2890	bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and
	2891	penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of
	2892	us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a
	2893	slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair.
	2894
	2895	"Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that
	2896	this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an
	2897	appointment with me for six o'clock?"
	2898
	2899	"Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not
	2900	quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland
	2901	has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far
	2902	better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite
	2903	against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable,
	2904	impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily
	2905	controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I
	2906	did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the
	2907	official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family
	2908	misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless
	2909	expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?"
	2910
	2911	"On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to
	2912	believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel."
	2913
	2914	Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am
	2915	delighted to hear it," he said.
	2916
	2917	"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has
	2918	really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless
	2919	they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some
	2920	letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one
	2921	side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that
	2922	in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and
	2923	a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other
	2924	characteristics, but those are the more obvious."
	2925
	2926	"We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office,
	2927	and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing
	2928	keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.
	2929
	2930	"And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study,
	2931	Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another
	2932	little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its
	2933	relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some
	2934	little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come
	2935	from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not
	2936	only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will
	2937	observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen
	2938	other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well."
	2939
	2940	Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I
	2941	cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes,"
	2942	he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know
	2943	when you have done it."
	2944
	2945	"Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in
	2946	the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!"
	2947
	2948	"What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips
	2949	and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.
	2950
	2951	"Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There
	2952	is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too
	2953	transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that
	2954	it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's
	2955	right! Sit down and let us talk it over."
	2956
	2957	Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a
	2958	glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he
	2959	stammered.
	2960
	2961	"I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
	2962	Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a
	2963	petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the
	2964	course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong."
	2965
	2966	The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his
	2967	breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up
	2968	on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands
	2969	in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed,
	2970	than to us.
	2971
	2972	"The man married a woman very much older than himself for her
	2973	money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the
	2974	daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable
	2975	sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have
	2976	made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it.
	2977	The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate
	2978	and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with
	2979	her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would
	2980	not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would
	2981	mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her
	2982	stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of
	2983	keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of
	2984	people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not
	2985	answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and
	2986	finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain
	2987	ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an
	2988	idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the
	2989	connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself,
	2990	covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with
	2991	a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice
	2992	into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the
	2993	girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off
	2994	other lovers by making love himself."
	2995
	2996	"It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never
	2997	thought that she would have been so carried away."
	2998
	2999	"Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
	3000	decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that
	3001	her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never
	3002	for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the
	3003	gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the
	3004	loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began
	3005	to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as
	3006	far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There
	3007	were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the
	3008	girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the
	3009	deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys
	3010	to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to
	3011	bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it
	3012	would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and
	3013	prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to
	3014	come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and
	3015	hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening
	3016	on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss
	3017	Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to
	3018	his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not
	3019	listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her,
	3020	and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished
	3021	away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a
	3022	four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of
	3023	events, Mr. Windibank!"
	3024
	3025	Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes
	3026	had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold
	3027	sneer upon his pale face.
	3028
	3029	"It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you
	3030	are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is
	3031	you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing
	3032	actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door
	3033	locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal
	3034	constraint."
	3035
	3036	"The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking
	3037	and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who
	3038	deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a
	3039	friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!"
	3040	he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon
	3041	the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but
	3042	here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat
	3043	myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he
	3044	could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs,
	3045	the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr.
	3046	James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.
	3047
	3048	"There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he
	3049	threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will
	3050	rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and
	3051	ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not
	3052	entirely devoid of interest."
	3053
	3054	"I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I
	3055	remarked.
	3056
	3057	"Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.
	3058	Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious
	3059	conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really
	3060	profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the
	3061	stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together,
	3062	but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was
	3063	suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice,
	3064	which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My
	3065	suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in
	3066	typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his
	3067	handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even
	3068	the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts,
	3069	together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same
	3070	direction."
	3071
	3072	"And how did you verify them?"
	3073
	3074	"Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I
	3075	knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed
	3076	description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the
	3077	result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I
	3078	sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me
	3079	whether it answered to the description of any of their
	3080	travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the
	3081	typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business
	3082	address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his
	3083	reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but
	3084	characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from
	3085	Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the
	3086	description tallied in every respect with that of their employé,
	3087	James Windibank. Voilà tout!"
	3088
	3089	"And Miss Sutherland?"
	3090
	3091	"If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
	3092	Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger
	3093	cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.'
	3094	There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much
	3095	knowledge of the world."
	3096
	3097
	3098
	3099	ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
	3100
	3101	We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the
	3102	maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran
	3103	in this way:
	3104
	3105	"Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from
	3106	the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.
	3107	Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect.
	3108	Leave Paddington by the 11:15."
	3109
	3110	"What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me.
	3111	"Will you go?"
	3112
	3113	"I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at
	3114	present."
	3115
	3116	"Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking
	3117	a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good,
	3118	and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases."
	3119
	3120	"I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained
	3121	through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack
	3122	at once, for I have only half an hour."
	3123
	3124	My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the
	3125	effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were
	3126	few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a
	3127	cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock
	3128	Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt
	3129	figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey
	3130	travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.
	3131
	3132	"It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It
	3133	makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on
	3134	whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless
	3135	or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall
	3136	get the tickets."
	3137
	3138	We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of
	3139	papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged
	3140	and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until
	3141	we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a
	3142	gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
	3143
	3144	"Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked.
	3145
	3146	"Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days."
	3147
	3148	"The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just
	3149	been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
	3150	particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those
	3151	simple cases which are so extremely difficult."
	3152
	3153	"That sounds a little paradoxical."
	3154
	3155	"But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a
	3156	clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more
	3157	difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they
	3158	have established a very serious case against the son of the
	3159	murdered man."
	3160
	3161	"It is a murder, then?"
	3162
	3163	"Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for
	3164	granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into
	3165	it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have
	3166	been able to understand it, in a very few words.
	3167
	3168	"Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in
	3169	Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a
	3170	Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned
	3171	some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he
	3172	held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was
	3173	also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the
	3174	colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to
	3175	settle down they should do so as near each other as possible.
	3176	Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his
	3177	tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect
	3178	equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son,
	3179	a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same
	3180	age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have
	3181	avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to
	3182	have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of
	3183	sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the
	3184	neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl.
	3185	Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the
	3186	least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the
	3187	families. Now for the facts.
	3188
	3189	"On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at
	3190	Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the
	3191	Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out
	3192	of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been
	3193	out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told
	3194	the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of
	3195	importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came
	3196	back alive.
	3197
	3198	"From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a
	3199	mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One
	3200	was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was
	3201	William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both
	3202	these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The
	3203	game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.
	3204	McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the
	3205	same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the
	3206	father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was
	3207	following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in
	3208	the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.
	3209
	3210	"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder,
	3211	the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly
	3212	wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the
	3213	edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of
	3214	the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the
	3215	woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she
	3216	saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr.
	3217	McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a
	3218	violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very
	3219	strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his
	3220	hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their
	3221	violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached
	3222	home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near
	3223	Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
	3224	fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came
	3225	running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead
	3226	in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was
	3227	much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right
	3228	hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On
	3229	following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the
	3230	grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated
	3231	blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as
	3232	might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's
	3233	gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the
	3234	body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly
	3235	arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned
	3236	at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the
	3237	magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next
	3238	Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out
	3239	before the coroner and the police-court."
	3240
	3241	"I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If
	3242	ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so
	3243	here."
	3244
	3245	"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes
	3246	thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing,
	3247	but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
	3248	pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something
	3249	entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case
	3250	looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very
	3251	possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people
	3252	in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the
	3253	daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his
	3254	innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect
	3255	in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in
	3256	his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the
	3257	case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are
	3258	flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly
	3259	digesting their breakfasts at home."
	3260
	3261	"I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you
	3262	will find little credit to be gained out of this case."
	3263
	3264	"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he
	3265	answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some
	3266	other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to
	3267	Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting
	3268	when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by
	3269	means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of
	3270	understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly
	3271	perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand
	3272	side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted
	3273	even so self-evident a thing as that."
	3274
	3275	"How on earth--"
	3276
	3277	"My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness
	3278	which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this
	3279	season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less
	3280	and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until
	3281	it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the
	3282	jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated
	3283	than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking
	3284	at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a
	3285	result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and
	3286	inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that
	3287	it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before
	3288	us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in
	3289	the inquest, and which are worth considering."
	3290
	3291	"What are they?"
	3292
	3293	"It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after
	3294	the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary
	3295	informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not
	3296	surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts.
	3297	This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any
	3298	traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the
	3299	coroner's jury."
	3300
	3301	"It was a confession," I ejaculated.
	3302
	3303	"No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
	3304
	3305	"Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at
	3306	least a most suspicious remark."
	3307
	3308	"On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I
	3309	can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be,
	3310	he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the
	3311	circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared
	3312	surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I
	3313	should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such
	3314	surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances,
	3315	and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His
	3316	frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent
	3317	man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and
	3318	firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not
	3319	unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of
	3320	his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day
	3321	so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
	3322	even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so
	3323	important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The
	3324	self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark
	3325	appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a
	3326	guilty one."
	3327
	3328	I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter
	3329	evidence," I remarked.
	3330
	3331	"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
	3332
	3333	"What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
	3334
	3335	"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters,
	3336	though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive.
	3337	You will find it here, and may read it for yourself."
	3338
	3339	He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire
	3340	paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the
	3341	paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own
	3342	statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the
	3343	corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this
	3344	way:
	3345
	3346	"Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called
	3347	and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for
	3348	three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the
	3349	morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at
	3350	the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he
	3351	had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after
	3352	my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and,
	3353	looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out
	3354	of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was
	3355	going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of
	3356	the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit
	3357	warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William
	3358	Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but
	3359	he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had
	3360	no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards
	3361	from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal
	3362	between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found
	3363	him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at
	3364	seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A
	3365	conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows,
	3366	for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his
	3367	passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned
	3368	towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards,
	3369	however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me
	3370	to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground,
	3371	with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in
	3372	my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for
	3373	some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper,
	3374	his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one
	3375	near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by
	3376	his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and
	3377	forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no
	3378	active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
	3379
	3380	"The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before
	3381	he died?
	3382
	3383	"Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some
	3384	allusion to a rat.
	3385
	3386	"The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
	3387
	3388	"Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was
	3389	delirious.
	3390
	3391	"The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father
	3392	had this final quarrel?
	3393
	3394	"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
	3395
	3396	"The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
	3397
	3398	"Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can
	3399	assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which
	3400	followed.
	3401
	3402	"The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point
	3403	out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case
	3404	considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
	3405
	3406	"Witness: I must still refuse.
	3407
	3408	"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common
	3409	signal between you and your father?
	3410
	3411	"Witness: It was.
	3412
	3413	"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw
	3414	you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
	3415
	3416	"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
	3417
	3418	"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions
	3419	when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father
	3420	fatally injured?
	3421
	3422	"Witness: Nothing definite.
	3423
	3424	"The Coroner: What do you mean?
	3425
	3426	"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into
	3427	the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet
	3428	I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay
	3429	upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be
	3430	something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps.
	3431	When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was
	3432	gone.
	3433
	3434	"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
	3435
	3436	"'Yes, it was gone.'
	3437
	3438	"'You cannot say what it was?'
	3439
	3440	"'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
	3441
	3442	"'How far from the body?'
	3443
	3444	"'A dozen yards or so.'
	3445
	3446	"'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
	3447
	3448	"'About the same.'
	3449
	3450	"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen
	3451	yards of it?'
	3452
	3453	"'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
	3454
	3455	"This concluded the examination of the witness."
	3456
	3457	"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner
	3458	in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy.
	3459	He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his
	3460	father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his
	3461	refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and
	3462	his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all,
	3463	as he remarks, very much against the son."
	3464
	3465	Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon
	3466	the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some
	3467	pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the
	3468	young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him
	3469	credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too
	3470	little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would
	3471	give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from
	3472	his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying
	3473	reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No,
	3474	sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what
	3475	this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that
	3476	hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and
	3477	not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the
	3478	scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be
	3479	there in twenty minutes."
	3480
	3481	It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through
	3482	the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn,
	3483	found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A
	3484	lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for
	3485	us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and
	3486	leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic
	3487	surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of
	3488	Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a
	3489	room had already been engaged for us.
	3490
	3491	"I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup
	3492	of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be
	3493	happy until you had been on the scene of the crime."
	3494
	3495	"It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It
	3496	is entirely a question of barometric pressure."
	3497
	3498	Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said.
	3499
	3500	"How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud
	3501	in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need
	3502	smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country
	3503	hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I
	3504	shall use the carriage to-night."
	3505
	3506	Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed
	3507	your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as
	3508	plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer
	3509	it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a
	3510	very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your
	3511	opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing
	3512	which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my
	3513	soul! here is her carriage at the door."
	3514
	3515	He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the
	3516	most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her
	3517	violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her
	3518	cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her
	3519	overpowering excitement and concern.
	3520
	3521	"Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the
	3522	other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition,
	3523	fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I
	3524	have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it.
	3525	I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it,
	3526	too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each
	3527	other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no
	3528	one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a
	3529	charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him."
	3530
	3531	"I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes.
	3532	"You may rely upon my doing all that I can."
	3533
	3534	"But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion?
	3535	Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself
	3536	think that he is innocent?"
	3537
	3538	"I think that it is very probable."
	3539
	3540	"There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking
	3541	defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes."
	3542
	3543	Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague
	3544	has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said.
	3545
	3546	"But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did
	3547	it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the
	3548	reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because
	3549	I was concerned in it."
	3550
	3551	"In what way?" asked Holmes.
	3552
	3553	"It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had
	3554	many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that
	3555	there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always
	3556	loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young
	3557	and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he
	3558	naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there
	3559	were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them."
	3560
	3561	"And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a
	3562	union?"
	3563
	3564	"No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in
	3565	favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as
	3566	Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.
	3567
	3568	"Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father
	3569	if I call to-morrow?"
	3570
	3571	"I am afraid the doctor won't allow it."
	3572
	3573	"The doctor?"
	3574
	3575	"Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for
	3576	years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken
	3577	to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his
	3578	nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive
	3579	who had known dad in the old days in Victoria."
	3580
	3581	"Ha! In Victoria! That is important."
	3582
	3583	"Yes, at the mines."
	3584
	3585	"Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner
	3586	made his money."
	3587
	3588	"Yes, certainly."
	3589
	3590	"Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to
	3591	me."
	3592
	3593	"You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you
	3594	will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do
	3595	tell him that I know him to be innocent."
	3596
	3597	"I will, Miss Turner."
	3598
	3599	"I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if
	3600	I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She
	3601	hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we
	3602	heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.
	3603
	3604	"I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a
	3605	few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you
	3606	are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I
	3607	call it cruel."
	3608
	3609	"I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said
	3610	Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?"
	3611
	3612	"Yes, but only for you and me."
	3613
	3614	"Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have
	3615	still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?"
	3616
	3617	"Ample."
	3618
	3619	"Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very
	3620	slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours."
	3621
	3622	I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through
	3623	the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel,
	3624	where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a
	3625	yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin,
	3626	however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were
	3627	groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the
	3628	action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and
	3629	gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the
	3630	day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were
	3631	absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely
	3632	unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between
	3633	the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when,
	3634	drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was
	3635	something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the
	3636	nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts?
	3637	I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which
	3638	contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's
	3639	deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left
	3640	parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been
	3641	shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot
	3642	upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from
	3643	behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when
	3644	seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it
	3645	did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his
	3646	back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call
	3647	Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying
	3648	reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be
	3649	delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become
	3650	delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how
	3651	he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my
	3652	brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident
	3653	of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the
	3654	murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his
	3655	overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to
	3656	return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was
	3657	kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a
	3658	tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I
	3659	did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith
	3660	in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long
	3661	as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young
	3662	McCarthy's innocence.
	3663
	3664	It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone,
	3665	for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.
	3666
	3667	"The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down.
	3668	"It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able
	3669	to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his
	3670	very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not
	3671	wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young
	3672	McCarthy."
	3673
	3674	"And what did you learn from him?"
	3675
	3676	"Nothing."
	3677
	3678	"Could he throw no light?"
	3679
	3680	"None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew
	3681	who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced
	3682	now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very
	3683	quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think,
	3684	sound at heart."
	3685
	3686	"I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact
	3687	that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as
	3688	this Miss Turner."
	3689
	3690	"Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly,
	3691	insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was
	3692	only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away
	3693	five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get
	3694	into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a
	3695	registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can
	3696	imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not
	3697	doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows
	3698	to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort
	3699	which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father,
	3700	at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss
	3701	Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself,
	3702	and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would
	3703	have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with
	3704	his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in
	3705	Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that
	3706	point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however,
	3707	for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious
	3708	trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and
	3709	has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the
	3710	Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I
	3711	think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all
	3712	that he has suffered."
	3713
	3714	"But if he is innocent, who has done it?"
	3715
	3716	"Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two
	3717	points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with
	3718	someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his
	3719	son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would
	3720	return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry
	3721	'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the
	3722	crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk
	3723	about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all
	3724	minor matters until to-morrow."
	3725
	3726	There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke
	3727	bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with
	3728	the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe
	3729	Pool.
	3730
	3731	"There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is
	3732	said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is
	3733	despaired of."
	3734
	3735	"An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes.
	3736
	3737	"About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
	3738	abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This
	3739	business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend
	3740	of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I
	3741	have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free."
	3742
	3743	"Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes.
	3744
	3745	"Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody
	3746	about here speaks of his kindness to him."
	3747
	3748	"Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
	3749	McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have
	3750	been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of
	3751	marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably,
	3752	heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner,
	3753	as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would
	3754	follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself
	3755	was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not
	3756	deduce something from that?"
	3757
	3758	"We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said
	3759	Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts,
	3760	Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies."
	3761
	3762	"You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard
	3763	to tackle the facts."
	3764
	3765	"Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it
	3766	difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth.
	3767
	3768	"And that is--"
	3769
	3770	"That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that
	3771	all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine."
	3772
	3773	"Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes,
	3774	laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley
	3775	Farm upon the left."
	3776
	3777	"Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking
	3778	building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches
	3779	of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless
	3780	chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight
	3781	of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door,
	3782	when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her
	3783	master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the
	3784	son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured
	3785	these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes
	3786	desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed
	3787	the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.
	3788
	3789	Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent
	3790	as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of
	3791	Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed
	3792	and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines,
	3793	while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter.
	3794	His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips
	3795	compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long,
	3796	sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal
	3797	lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated
	3798	upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell
	3799	unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick,
	3800	impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way
	3801	along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of
	3802	the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is
	3803	all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon
	3804	the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either
	3805	side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and
	3806	once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and
	3807	I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous,
	3808	while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the
	3809	conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a
	3810	definite end.
	3811
	3812	The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water
	3813	some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the
	3814	Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner.
	3815	Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see
	3816	the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich
	3817	landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods
	3818	grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass
	3819	twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds
	3820	which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which
	3821	the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground,
	3822	that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the
	3823	fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager
	3824	face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read
	3825	upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking
	3826	up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.
	3827
	3828	"What did you go into the pool for?" he asked.
	3829
	3830	"I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon
	3831	or other trace. But how on earth--"
	3832
	3833	"Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
	3834	inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and
	3835	there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all
	3836	have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo
	3837	and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the
	3838	lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or
	3839	eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of
	3840	the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his
	3841	waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to
	3842	himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he
	3843	was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are
	3844	deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his
	3845	story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are
	3846	the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It
	3847	is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this?
	3848	Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite
	3849	unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course
	3850	that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up
	3851	and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we
	3852	were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a
	3853	great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced
	3854	his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon
	3855	his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he
	3856	remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks,
	3857	gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and
	3858	examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of
	3859	the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among
	3860	the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then
	3861	he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the
	3862	highroad, where all traces were lost.
	3863
	3864	"It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked,
	3865	returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on
	3866	the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a
	3867	word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done
	3868	that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab,
	3869	and I shall be with you presently."
	3870
	3871	It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove
	3872	back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he
	3873	had picked up in the wood.
	3874
	3875	"This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out.
	3876	"The murder was done with it."
	3877
	3878	"I see no marks."
	3879
	3880	"There are none."
	3881
	3882	"How do you know, then?"
	3883
	3884	"The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few
	3885	days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It
	3886	corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other
	3887	weapon."
	3888
	3889	"And the murderer?"
	3890
	3891	"Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears
	3892	thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian
	3893	cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his
	3894	pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be
	3895	enough to aid us in our search."
	3896
	3897	Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he
	3898	said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a
	3899	hard-headed British jury."
	3900
	3901	"Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own
	3902	method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon,
	3903	and shall probably return to London by the evening train."
	3904
	3905	"And leave your case unfinished?"
	3906
	3907	"No, finished."
	3908
	3909	"But the mystery?"
	3910
	3911	"It is solved."
	3912
	3913	"Who was the criminal, then?"
	3914
	3915	"The gentleman I describe."
	3916
	3917	"But who is he?"
	3918
	3919	"Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a
	3920	populous neighbourhood."
	3921
	3922	Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said,
	3923	"and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking
	3924	for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the
	3925	laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."
	3926
	3927	"All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance.
	3928	Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before
	3929	I leave."
	3930
	3931	Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where
	3932	we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in
	3933	thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds
	3934	himself in a perplexing position.
	3935
	3936	"Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit
	3937	down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't
	3938	know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a
	3939	cigar and let me expound."
	3940
	3941	"Pray do so."
	3942
	3943	"Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about
	3944	young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly,
	3945	although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One
	3946	was the fact that his father should, according to his account,
	3947	cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying
	3948	reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but
	3949	that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double
	3950	point our research must commence, and we will begin it by
	3951	presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true."
	3952
	3953	"What of this 'Cooee!' then?"
	3954
	3955	"Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The
	3956	son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that
	3957	he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the
	3958	attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But
	3959	'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used
	3960	between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the
	3961	person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was
	3962	someone who had been in Australia."
	3963
	3964	"What of the rat, then?"
	3965
	3966	Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened
	3967	it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,"
	3968	he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand
	3969	over part of the map. "What do you read?"
	3970
	3971	"ARAT," I read.
	3972
	3973	"And now?" He raised his hand.
	3974
	3975	"BALLARAT."
	3976
	3977	"Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his
	3978	son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter
	3979	the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat."
	3980
	3981	"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed.
	3982
	3983	"It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down
	3984	considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point
	3985	which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a
	3986	certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite
	3987	conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak."
	3988
	3989	"Certainly."
	3990
	3991	"And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only
	3992	be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could
	3993	hardly wander."
	3994
	3995	"Quite so."
	3996
	3997	"Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the
	3998	ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that
	3999	imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal."
	4000
	4001	"But how did you gain them?"
	4002
	4003	"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of
	4004	trifles."
	4005
	4006	"His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length
	4007	of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces."
	4008
	4009	"Yes, they were peculiar boots."
	4010
	4011	"But his lameness?"
	4012
	4013	"The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than
	4014	his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he
	4015	was lame."
	4016
	4017	"But his left-handedness."
	4018
	4019	"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded
	4020	by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from
	4021	immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can
	4022	that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind
	4023	that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had
	4024	even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special
	4025	knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian
	4026	cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and
	4027	written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different
	4028	varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the
	4029	ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss
	4030	where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety
	4031	which are rolled in Rotterdam."
	4032
	4033	"And the cigar-holder?"
	4034
	4035	"I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he
	4036	used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the
	4037	cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."
	4038
	4039	"Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which
	4040	he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as
	4041	truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the
	4042	direction in which all this points. The culprit is--"
	4043
	4044	"Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of
	4045	our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.
	4046
	4047	The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His
	4048	slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of
	4049	decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and
	4050	his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual
	4051	strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled
	4052	hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air
	4053	of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an
	4054	ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were
	4055	tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that
	4056	he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease.
	4057
	4058	"Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my
	4059	note?"
	4060
	4061	"Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to
	4062	see me here to avoid scandal."
	4063
	4064	"I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall."
	4065
	4066	"And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my
	4067	companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question
	4068	was already answered.
	4069
	4070	"Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It
	4071	is so. I know all about McCarthy."
	4072
	4073	The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried.
	4074	"But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you
	4075	my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at
	4076	the Assizes."
	4077
	4078	"I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely.
	4079
	4080	"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It
	4081	would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears
	4082	that I am arrested."
	4083
	4084	"It may not come to that," said Holmes.
	4085
	4086	"What?"
	4087
	4088	"I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter
	4089	who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests.
	4090	Young McCarthy must be got off, however."
	4091
	4092	"I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for
	4093	years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a
	4094	month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol."
	4095
	4096	Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand
	4097	and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he
	4098	said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson
	4099	here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the
	4100	last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall
	4101	not use it unless it is absolutely needed."
	4102
	4103	"It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I
	4104	shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I
	4105	should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the
	4106	thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but
	4107	will not take me long to tell.
	4108
	4109	"You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil
	4110	incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of
	4111	such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years,
	4112	and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be
	4113	in his power.
	4114
	4115	"It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap
	4116	then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at
	4117	anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck
	4118	with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you
	4119	would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and
	4120	we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time
	4121	to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings.
	4122	Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party
	4123	is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang.
	4124
	4125	"One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and
	4126	we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers
	4127	and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of
	4128	their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed,
	4129	however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of
	4130	the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the
	4131	Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his
	4132	wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every
	4133	feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made
	4134	our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted
	4135	from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and
	4136	respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in
	4137	the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money,
	4138	to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too,
	4139	and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice.
	4140	Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down
	4141	the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned
	4142	over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was
	4143	going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.
	4144
	4145	"I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in
	4146	Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his
	4147	foot.
	4148
	4149	"'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be
	4150	as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and
	4151	you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine,
	4152	law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman
	4153	within hail.'
	4154
	4155	"Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking
	4156	them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land
	4157	ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness;
	4158	turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my
	4159	elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more
	4160	afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he
	4161	wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without
	4162	question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing
	4163	which I could not give. He asked for Alice.
	4164
	4165	"His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was
	4166	known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that
	4167	his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was
	4168	firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that
	4169	I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that
	4170	was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do
	4171	his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses
	4172	to talk it over.
	4173
	4174	"When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I
	4175	smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone.
	4176	But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in
	4177	me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my
	4178	daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she
	4179	were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I
	4180	and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a
	4181	man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and
	4182	a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb,
	4183	I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl!
	4184	Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I
	4185	did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned,
	4186	I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl
	4187	should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more
	4188	than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction
	4189	than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought
	4190	back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I
	4191	was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in
	4192	my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that
	4193	occurred."
	4194
	4195	"Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man
	4196	signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we
	4197	may never be exposed to such a temptation."
	4198
	4199	"I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?"
	4200
	4201	"In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you
	4202	will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the
	4203	Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is
	4204	condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be
	4205	seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or
	4206	dead, shall be safe with us."
	4207
	4208	"Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds,
	4209	when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace
	4210	which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his
	4211	giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.
	4212
	4213	"God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate
	4214	play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such
	4215	a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say,
	4216	'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'"
	4217
	4218	James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a
	4219	number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and
	4220	submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven
	4221	months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is
	4222	every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily
	4223	together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their
	4224	past.
	4225
	4226
	4227
	4228	ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
	4229
	4230	When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes
	4231	cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which
	4232	present strange and interesting features that it is no easy
	4233	matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however,
	4234	have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have
	4235	not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend
	4236	possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of
	4237	these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his
	4238	analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without
	4239	an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and
	4240	have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and
	4241	surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to
	4242	him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable
	4243	in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted
	4244	to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are
	4245	points in connection with it which never have been, and probably
	4246	never will be, entirely cleared up.
	4247
	4248	The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater
	4249	or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my
	4250	headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the
	4251	adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant
	4252	Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a
	4253	furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the
	4254	British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the
	4255	Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the
	4256	Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered,
	4257	Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to
	4258	prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that
	4259	therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a
	4260	deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the
	4261	case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of
	4262	them present such singular features as the strange train of
	4263	circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe.
	4264
	4265	It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales
	4266	had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had
	4267	screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that
	4268	even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced
	4269	to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and
	4270	to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which
	4271	shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like
	4272	untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew
	4273	higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in
	4274	the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the
	4275	fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the
	4276	other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until
	4277	the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,
	4278	and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of
	4279	the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a
	4280	few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker
	4281	Street.
	4282
	4283	"Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the
	4284	bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?"
	4285
	4286	"Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage
	4287	visitors."
	4288
	4289	"A client, then?"
	4290
	4291	"If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out
	4292	on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more
	4293	likely to be some crony of the landlady's."
	4294
	4295	Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there
	4296	came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He
	4297	stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and
	4298	towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.
	4299
	4300	"Come in!" said he.
	4301
	4302	The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the
	4303	outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of
	4304	refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella
	4305	which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told
	4306	of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about
	4307	him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his
	4308	face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is
	4309	weighed down with some great anxiety.
	4310
	4311	"I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to
	4312	his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have
	4313	brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug
	4314	chamber."
	4315
	4316	"Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest
	4317	here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from
	4318	the south-west, I see."
	4319
	4320	"Yes, from Horsham."
	4321
	4322	"That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is
	4323	quite distinctive."
	4324
	4325	"I have come for advice."
	4326
	4327	"That is easily got."
	4328
	4329	"And help."
	4330
	4331	"That is not always so easy."
	4332
	4333	"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast
	4334	how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal."
	4335
	4336	"Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards."
	4337
	4338	"He said that you could solve anything."
	4339
	4340	"He said too much."
	4341
	4342	"That you are never beaten."
	4343
	4344	"I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a
	4345	woman."
	4346
	4347	"But what is that compared with the number of your successes?"
	4348
	4349	"It is true that I have been generally successful."
	4350
	4351	"Then you may be so with me."
	4352
	4353	"I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me
	4354	with some details as to your case."
	4355
	4356	"It is no ordinary one."
	4357
	4358	"None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of
	4359	appeal."
	4360
	4361	"And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you
	4362	have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of
	4363	events than those which have happened in my own family."
	4364
	4365	"You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the
	4366	essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards
	4367	question you as to those details which seem to me to be most
	4368	important."
	4369
	4370	The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out
	4371	towards the blaze.
	4372
	4373	"My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have,
	4374	as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful
	4375	business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an
	4376	idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the
	4377	affair.
	4378
	4379	"You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias
	4380	and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry,
	4381	which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He
	4382	was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business
	4383	met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire
	4384	upon a handsome competence.
	4385
	4386	"My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and
	4387	became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done
	4388	very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army,
	4389	and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When
	4390	Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where
	4391	he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came
	4392	back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham.
	4393	He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his
	4394	reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his
	4395	dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to
	4396	them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very
	4397	foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring
	4398	disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I
	4399	doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or
	4400	three fields round his house, and there he would take his
	4401	exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave
	4402	his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very
	4403	heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any
	4404	friends, not even his own brother.
	4405
	4406	"He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the
	4407	time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This
	4408	would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years
	4409	in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he
	4410	was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be
	4411	fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would
	4412	make me his representative both with the servants and with the
	4413	tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite
	4414	master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I
	4415	liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in
	4416	his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he
	4417	had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was
	4418	invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or
	4419	anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped
	4420	through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a
	4421	collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such
	4422	a room.
	4423
	4424	"One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp
	4425	lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a
	4426	common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all
	4427	paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From
	4428	India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can
	4429	this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little
	4430	dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to
	4431	laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight
	4432	of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his
	4433	skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he
	4434	still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and
	4435	then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'
	4436
	4437	"'What is it, uncle?' I cried.
	4438
	4439	"'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his
	4440	room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope
	4441	and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the
	4442	gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else
	4443	save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his
	4444	overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I
	4445	ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key,
	4446	which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small
	4447	brass box, like a cashbox, in the other.
	4448
	4449	"'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,'
	4450	said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my
	4451	room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'
	4452
	4453	"I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to
	4454	step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the
	4455	grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned
	4456	paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I
	4457	glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was
	4458	printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the
	4459	envelope.
	4460
	4461	"'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave
	4462	my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to
	4463	my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to
	4464	you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you
	4465	cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest
	4466	enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't
	4467	say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper
	4468	where Mr. Fordham shows you.'
	4469
	4470	"I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with
	4471	him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest
	4472	impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every
	4473	way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I
	4474	could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left
	4475	behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed
	4476	and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I
	4477	could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever,
	4478	and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his
	4479	time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the
	4480	inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy
	4481	and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a
	4482	revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man,
	4483	and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by
	4484	man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would
	4485	rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him,
	4486	like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror
	4487	which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen
	4488	his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it
	4489	were new raised from a basin.
	4490
	4491	"Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to
	4492	abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those
	4493	drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when
	4494	we went to search for him, face downward in a little
	4495	green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There
	4496	was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep,
	4497	so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity,
	4498	brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced
	4499	from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself
	4500	that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed,
	4501	however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and
	4502	of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank."
	4503
	4504	"One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee,
	4505	one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me
	4506	have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and
	4507	the date of his supposed suicide."
	4508
	4509	"The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks
	4510	later, upon the night of May 2nd."
	4511
	4512	"Thank you. Pray proceed."
	4513
	4514	"When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my
	4515	request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been
	4516	always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its
	4517	contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a
	4518	paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and
	4519	'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath.
	4520	These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had
	4521	been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was
	4522	nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many
	4523	scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in
	4524	America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had
	4525	done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier.
	4526	Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern
	4527	states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had
	4528	evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag
	4529	politicians who had been sent down from the North.
	4530
	4531	"Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at
	4532	Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the
	4533	January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my
	4534	father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the
	4535	breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened
	4536	envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the
	4537	outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what
	4538	he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked
	4539	very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon
	4540	himself.
	4541
	4542	"'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.
	4543
	4544	"My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I.
	4545
	4546	"He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are
	4547	the very letters. But what is this written above them?'
	4548
	4549	"'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his
	4550	shoulder.
	4551
	4552	"'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.
	4553
	4554	"'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the
	4555	papers must be those that are destroyed.'
	4556
	4557	"'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a
	4558	civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind.
	4559	Where does the thing come from?'
	4560
	4561	"'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.
	4562
	4563	"'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do
	4564	with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such
	4565	nonsense.'
	4566
	4567	"'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.
	4568
	4569	"'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'
	4570
	4571	"'Then let me do so?'
	4572
	4573	"'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such
	4574	nonsense.'
	4575
	4576	"It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate
	4577	man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of
	4578	forebodings.
	4579
	4580	"On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went
	4581	from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is
	4582	in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad
	4583	that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from
	4584	danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in
	4585	error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram
	4586	from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had
	4587	fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the
	4588	neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I
	4589	hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered
	4590	his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from
	4591	Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him,
	4592	and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in
	4593	bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.'
	4594	Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I
	4595	was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of
	4596	murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no
	4597	robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.
	4598	And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease,
	4599	and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been
	4600	woven round him.
	4601
	4602	"In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me
	4603	why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well
	4604	convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an
	4605	incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as
	4606	pressing in one house as in another.
	4607
	4608	"It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two
	4609	years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time
	4610	I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that
	4611	this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended
	4612	with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon,
	4613	however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in
	4614	which it had come upon my father."
	4615
	4616	The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and
	4617	turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried
	4618	orange pips.
	4619
	4620	"This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is
	4621	London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were
	4622	upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the
	4623	papers on the sundial.'"
	4624
	4625	"What have you done?" asked Holmes.
	4626
	4627	"Nothing."
	4628
	4629	"Nothing?"
	4630
	4631	"To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white
	4632	hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor
	4633	rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in
	4634	the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight
	4635	and no precautions can guard against."
	4636
	4637	"Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are
	4638	lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for
	4639	despair."
	4640
	4641	"I have seen the police."
	4642
	4643	"Ah!"
	4644
	4645	"But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that
	4646	the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all
	4647	practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really
	4648	accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with
	4649	the warnings."
	4650
	4651	Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible
	4652	imbecility!" he cried.
	4653
	4654	"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in
	4655	the house with me."
	4656
	4657	"Has he come with you to-night?"
	4658
	4659	"No. His orders were to stay in the house."
	4660
	4661	Again Holmes raved in the air.
	4662
	4663	"Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you
	4664	not come at once?"
	4665
	4666	"I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major
	4667	Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to
	4668	you."
	4669
	4670	"It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have
	4671	acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than
	4672	that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which
	4673	might help us?"
	4674
	4675	"There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat
	4676	pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted
	4677	paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance,"
	4678	said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I
	4679	observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the
	4680	ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet
	4681	upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it
	4682	may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from
	4683	among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond
	4684	the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think
	4685	myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is
	4686	undoubtedly my uncle's."
	4687
	4688	Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper,
	4689	which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from
	4690	a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the
	4691	following enigmatical notices:
	4692
	4693	"4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.
	4694
	4695	"7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and
	4696	John Swain, of St. Augustine.
	4697
	4698	"9th. McCauley cleared.
	4699
	4700	"10th. John Swain cleared.
	4701
	4702	"12th. Visited Paramore. All well."
	4703
	4704	"Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it
	4705	to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another
	4706	instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told
	4707	me. You must get home instantly and act."
	4708
	4709	"What shall I do?"
	4710
	4711	"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must
	4712	put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass
	4713	box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say
	4714	that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that
	4715	this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such
	4716	words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you
	4717	must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do
	4718	you understand?"
	4719
	4720	"Entirely."
	4721
	4722	"Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I
	4723	think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our
	4724	web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first
	4725	consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens
	4726	you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the
	4727	guilty parties."
	4728
	4729	"I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his
	4730	overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall
	4731	certainly do as you advise."
	4732
	4733	"Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in
	4734	the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that
	4735	you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you
	4736	go back?"
	4737
	4738	"By train from Waterloo."
	4739
	4740	"It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that
	4741	you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too
	4742	closely."
	4743
	4744	"I am armed."
	4745
	4746	"That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case."
	4747
	4748	"I shall see you at Horsham, then?"
	4749
	4750	"No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek
	4751	it."
	4752
	4753	"Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news
	4754	as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every
	4755	particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside
	4756	the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered
	4757	against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come
	4758	to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet
	4759	of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them
	4760	once more.
	4761
	4762	Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk
	4763	forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he
	4764	lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue
	4765	smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling.
	4766
	4767	"I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we
	4768	have had none more fantastic than this."
	4769
	4770	"Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four."
	4771
	4772	"Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems
	4773	to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the
	4774	Sholtos."
	4775
	4776	"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to
	4777	what these perils are?"
	4778
	4779	"There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.
	4780
	4781	"Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue
	4782	this unhappy family?"
	4783
	4784	Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the
	4785	arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal
	4786	reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a
	4787	single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the
	4788	chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which
	4789	would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole
	4790	animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who
	4791	has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents
	4792	should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both
	4793	before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the
	4794	reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study
	4795	which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the
	4796	aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest
	4797	pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to
	4798	utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this
	4799	in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all
	4800	knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and
	4801	encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so
	4802	impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge
	4803	which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have
	4804	endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one
	4805	occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits
	4806	in a very precise fashion."
	4807
	4808	"Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document.
	4809	Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I
	4810	remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the
	4811	mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry
	4812	eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime
	4813	records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and
	4814	self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the
	4815	main points of my analysis."
	4816
	4817	Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as
	4818	I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic
	4819	stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the
	4820	rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he
	4821	can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which
	4822	has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster
	4823	all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the
	4824	'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you.
	4825	Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be
	4826	deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong
	4827	presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for
	4828	leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their
	4829	habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for
	4830	the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love
	4831	of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of
	4832	someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis
	4833	that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from
	4834	America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by
	4835	considering the formidable letters which were received by himself
	4836	and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those
	4837	letters?"
	4838
	4839	"The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the
	4840	third from London."
	4841
	4842	"From East London. What do you deduce from that?"
	4843
	4844	"They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship."
	4845
	4846	"Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that
	4847	the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was
	4848	on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the
	4849	case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and
	4850	its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days.
	4851	Does that suggest anything?"
	4852
	4853	"A greater distance to travel."
	4854
	4855	"But the letter had also a greater distance to come."
	4856
	4857	"Then I do not see the point."
	4858
	4859	"There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man
	4860	or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send
	4861	their singular warning or token before them when starting upon
	4862	their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign
	4863	when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a
	4864	steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter.
	4865	But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those
	4866	seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which
	4867	brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the
	4868	writer."
	4869
	4870	"It is possible."
	4871
	4872	"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly
	4873	urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to
	4874	caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which
	4875	it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one
	4876	comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay."
	4877
	4878	"Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless
	4879	persecution?"
	4880
	4881	"The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital
	4882	importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think
	4883	that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them.
	4884	A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way
	4885	as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in
	4886	it, and they must have been men of resource and determination.
	4887	Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may.
	4888	In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an
	4889	individual and becomes the badge of a society."
	4890
	4891	"But of what society?"
	4892
	4893	"Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and
	4894	sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?"
	4895
	4896	"I never have."
	4897
	4898	Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it
	4899	is," said he presently:
	4900
	4901	"'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to
	4902	the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret
	4903	society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the
	4904	Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local
	4905	branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee,
	4906	Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was
	4907	used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of
	4908	the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country
	4909	of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually
	4910	preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic
	4911	but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some
	4912	parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this
	4913	the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might
	4914	fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would
	4915	unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and
	4916	unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the
	4917	society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a
	4918	case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with
	4919	impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the
	4920	perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite
	4921	of the efforts of the United States government and of the better
	4922	classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year
	4923	1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have
	4924	been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.'
	4925
	4926	"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that
	4927	the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the
	4928	disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may
	4929	well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his
	4930	family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track.
	4931	You can understand that this register and diary may implicate
	4932	some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many
	4933	who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered."
	4934
	4935	"Then the page we have seen--"
	4936
	4937	"Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent
	4938	the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to
	4939	them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or
	4940	left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a
	4941	sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let
	4942	some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only
	4943	chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have
	4944	told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done
	4945	to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for
	4946	half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable
	4947	ways of our fellow-men."
	4948
	4949
	4950	It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a
	4951	subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the
	4952	great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came
	4953	down.
	4954
	4955	"You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I
	4956	foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of
	4957	young Openshaw's."
	4958
	4959	"What steps will you take?" I asked.
	4960
	4961	"It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.
	4962	I may have to go down to Horsham, after all."
	4963
	4964	"You will not go there first?"
	4965
	4966	"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the
	4967	maid will bring up your coffee."
	4968
	4969	As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and
	4970	glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a
	4971	chill to my heart.
	4972
	4973	"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."
	4974
	4975	"Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it
	4976	done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved.
	4977
	4978	"My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy
	4979	Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:
	4980
	4981	"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H
	4982	Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and
	4983	a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and
	4984	stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it
	4985	was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was
	4986	given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was
	4987	eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman
	4988	whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his
	4989	pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.
	4990	It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch
	4991	the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and
	4992	the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge
	4993	of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body
	4994	exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that
	4995	the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident,
	4996	which should have the effect of calling the attention of the
	4997	authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages."
	4998
	4999	We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and
	5000	shaken than I had ever seen him.
	5001
	5002	"That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty
	5003	feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal
	5004	matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my
	5005	hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that
	5006	I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair
	5007	and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a
	5008	flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and
	5009	unclasping of his long thin hands.
	5010
	5011	"They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could
	5012	they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the
	5013	direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too
	5014	crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson,
	5015	we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!"
	5016
	5017	"To the police?"
	5018
	5019	"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may
	5020	take the flies, but not before."
	5021
	5022	All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in
	5023	the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes
	5024	had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he
	5025	entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard,
	5026	and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously,
	5027	washing it down with a long draught of water.
	5028
	5029	"You are hungry," I remarked.
	5030
	5031	"Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since
	5032	breakfast."
	5033
	5034	"Nothing?"
	5035
	5036	"Not a bite. I had no time to think of it."
	5037
	5038	"And how have you succeeded?"
	5039
	5040	"Well."
	5041
	5042	"You have a clue?"
	5043
	5044	"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not
	5045	long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish
	5046	trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!"
	5047
	5048	"What do you mean?"
	5049
	5050	He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he
	5051	squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and
	5052	thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote
	5053	"S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain
	5054	James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia."
	5055
	5056	"That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling.
	5057	"It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a
	5058	precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him."
	5059
	5060	"And who is this Captain Calhoun?"
	5061
	5062	"The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first."
	5063
	5064	"How did you trace it, then?"
	5065
	5066	He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with
	5067	dates and names.
	5068
	5069	"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers
	5070	and files of the old papers, following the future career of every
	5071	vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in
	5072	'83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were
	5073	reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,'
	5074	instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported
	5075	as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to
	5076	one of the states of the Union."
	5077
	5078	"Texas, I think."
	5079
	5080	"I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must
	5081	have an American origin."
	5082
	5083	"What then?"
	5084
	5085	"I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque
	5086	'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a
	5087	certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present
	5088	in the port of London."
	5089
	5090	"Yes?"
	5091
	5092	"The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the
	5093	Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by
	5094	the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired
	5095	to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and
	5096	as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the
	5097	Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight."
	5098
	5099	"What will you do, then?"
	5100
	5101	"Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I
	5102	learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are
	5103	Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away
	5104	from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has
	5105	been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship
	5106	reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and
	5107	the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these
	5108	three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder."
	5109
	5110	There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans,
	5111	and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the
	5112	orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as
	5113	resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very
	5114	severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for
	5115	news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We
	5116	did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a
	5117	shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough
	5118	of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is
	5119	all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star."
	5120
	5121
	5122
	5123	ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP
	5124
	5125	Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal
	5126	of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to
	5127	opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some
	5128	foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De
	5129	Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had
	5130	drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the
	5131	same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the
	5132	practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many
	5133	years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of
	5134	mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see
	5135	him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point
	5136	pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble
	5137	man.
	5138
	5139	One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell,
	5140	about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the
	5141	clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work
	5142	down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.
	5143
	5144	"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
	5145
	5146	I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
	5147
	5148	We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps
	5149	upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in
	5150	some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.
	5151
	5152	"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then,
	5153	suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms
	5154	about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in
	5155	such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help."
	5156
	5157	"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney.
	5158	How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when
	5159	you came in."
	5160
	5161	"I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was
	5162	always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds
	5163	to a light-house.
	5164
	5165	"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine
	5166	and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or
	5167	should you rather that I sent James off to bed?"
	5168
	5169	"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about
	5170	Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about
	5171	him!"
	5172
	5173	It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her
	5174	husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend
	5175	and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words
	5176	as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it
	5177	possible that we could bring him back to her?
	5178
	5179	It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late
	5180	he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the
	5181	farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been
	5182	confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and
	5183	shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him
	5184	eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the
	5185	dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the
	5186	effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar
	5187	of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could
	5188	she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and
	5189	pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?
	5190
	5191	There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of
	5192	it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second
	5193	thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical
	5194	adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it
	5195	better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would
	5196	send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the
	5197	address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left
	5198	my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding
	5199	eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at
	5200	the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to
	5201	be.
	5202
	5203	But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my
	5204	adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the
	5205	high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east
	5206	of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached
	5207	by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the
	5208	mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search.
	5209	Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in
	5210	the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the
	5211	light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch
	5212	and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the
	5213	brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the
	5214	forecastle of an emigrant ship.
	5215
	5216	Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying
	5217	in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads
	5218	thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a
	5219	dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black
	5220	shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright,
	5221	now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of
	5222	the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to
	5223	themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low,
	5224	monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then
	5225	suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own
	5226	thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At
	5227	the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside
	5228	which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old
	5229	man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon
	5230	his knees, staring into the fire.
	5231
	5232	As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe
	5233	for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
	5234
	5235	"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend
	5236	of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
	5237
	5238	There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and
	5239	peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and
	5240	unkempt, staring out at me.
	5241
	5242	"My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of
	5243	reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what
	5244	o'clock is it?"
	5245
	5246	"Nearly eleven."
	5247
	5248	"Of what day?"
	5249
	5250	"Of Friday, June 19th."
	5251
	5252	"Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What
	5253	d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his
	5254	arms and began to sob in a high treble key.
	5255
	5256	"I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting
	5257	this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!"
	5258
	5259	"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here
	5260	a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll
	5261	go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate.
	5262	Give me your hand! Have you a cab?"
	5263
	5264	"Yes, I have one waiting."
	5265
	5266	"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I
	5267	owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
	5268
	5269	I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of
	5270	sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying
	5271	fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed
	5272	the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my
	5273	skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look
	5274	back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I
	5275	glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my
	5276	side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very
	5277	wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between
	5278	his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his
	5279	fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my
	5280	self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of
	5281	astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him
	5282	but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull
	5283	eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and
	5284	grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He
	5285	made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he
	5286	turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided
	5287	into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
	5288
	5289	"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
	5290
	5291	"As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you
	5292	would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend
	5293	of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with
	5294	you."
	5295
	5296	"I have a cab outside."
	5297
	5298	"Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he
	5299	appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should
	5300	recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to
	5301	say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait
	5302	outside, I shall be with you in five minutes."
	5303
	5304	It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for
	5305	they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with
	5306	such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney
	5307	was once confined in the cab my mission was practically
	5308	accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better
	5309	than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular
	5310	adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a
	5311	few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him
	5312	out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a
	5313	very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den,
	5314	and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two
	5315	streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot.
	5316	Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and
	5317	burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
	5318
	5319	"I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added
	5320	opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little
	5321	weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical
	5322	views."
	5323
	5324	"I was certainly surprised to find you there."
	5325
	5326	"But not more so than I to find you."
	5327
	5328	"I came to find a friend."
	5329
	5330	"And I to find an enemy."
	5331
	5332	"An enemy?"
	5333
	5334	"Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural
	5335	prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable
	5336	inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent
	5337	ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been
	5338	recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an
	5339	hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own
	5340	purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have
	5341	vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that
	5342	building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some
	5343	strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless
	5344	nights."
	5345
	5346	"What! You do not mean bodies?"
	5347
	5348	"Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds
	5349	for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It
	5350	is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that
	5351	Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our
	5352	trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his
	5353	teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a
	5354	similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle
	5355	of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs.
	5356
	5357	"Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through
	5358	the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from
	5359	its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?"
	5360
	5361	"If I can be of use."
	5362
	5363	"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still
	5364	more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
	5365
	5366	"The Cedars?"
	5367
	5368	"Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I
	5369	conduct the inquiry."
	5370
	5371	"Where is it, then?"
	5372
	5373	"Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
	5374
	5375	"But I am all in the dark."
	5376
	5377	"Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up
	5378	here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a
	5379	crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her
	5380	head. So long, then!"
	5381
	5382	He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through
	5383	the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which
	5384	widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad
	5385	balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly
	5386	beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and
	5387	mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of
	5388	the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of
	5389	revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a
	5390	star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of
	5391	the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his
	5392	breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat
	5393	beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which
	5394	seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in
	5395	upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles,
	5396	and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban
	5397	villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up
	5398	his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he
	5399	is acting for the best.
	5400
	5401	"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes
	5402	you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great
	5403	thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are
	5404	not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear
	5405	little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
	5406
	5407	"You forget that I know nothing about it."
	5408
	5409	"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before
	5410	we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can
	5411	get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I
	5412	can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case
	5413	clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a
	5414	spark where all is dark to me."
	5415
	5416	"Proceed, then."
	5417
	5418	"Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee
	5419	a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have
	5420	plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very
	5421	nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made
	5422	friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter
	5423	of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no
	5424	occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into
	5425	town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon
	5426	Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of
	5427	age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very
	5428	affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know
	5429	him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far
	5430	as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while
	5431	he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and
	5432	Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money
	5433	troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
	5434
	5435	"Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier
	5436	than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important
	5437	commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy
	5438	home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife
	5439	received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his
	5440	departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable
	5441	value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the
	5442	offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up
	5443	in your London, you will know that the office of the company is
	5444	in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where
	5445	you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for
	5446	the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office,
	5447	got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through
	5448	Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me
	5449	so far?"
	5450
	5451	"It is very clear."
	5452
	5453	"If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St.
	5454	Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab,
	5455	as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself.
	5456	While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly
	5457	heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her
	5458	husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning
	5459	to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she
	5460	distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly
	5461	agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then
	5462	vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that
	5463	he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind.
	5464	One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that
	5465	although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town
	5466	in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
	5467
	5468	"Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the
	5469	steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which
	5470	you found me to-night--and running through the front room she
	5471	attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At
	5472	the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of
	5473	whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who
	5474	acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled
	5475	with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the
	5476	lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of
	5477	constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The
	5478	inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the
	5479	continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to
	5480	the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no
	5481	sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was
	5482	no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who,
	5483	it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly
	5484	swore that no one else had been in the front room during the
	5485	afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was
	5486	staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had
	5487	been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box
	5488	which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell
	5489	a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had
	5490	promised to bring home.
	5491
	5492	"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple
	5493	showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious.
	5494	The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an
	5495	abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a
	5496	sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon
	5497	the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom
	5498	window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered
	5499	at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The
	5500	bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On
	5501	examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill,
	5502	and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of
	5503	the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were
	5504	all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of
	5505	his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were
	5506	there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these
	5507	garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St.
	5508	Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no
	5509	other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon
	5510	the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by
	5511	swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of
	5512	the tragedy.
	5513
	5514	"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately
	5515	implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the
	5516	vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was
	5517	known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few
	5518	seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could
	5519	hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence
	5520	was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no
	5521	knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he
	5522	could not account in any way for the presence of the missing
	5523	gentleman's clothes.
	5524
	5525	"So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who
	5526	lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was
	5527	certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St.
	5528	Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which
	5529	is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a
	5530	professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police
	5531	regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some
	5532	little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand
	5533	side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the
	5534	wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat,
	5535	cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he
	5536	is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the
	5537	greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I
	5538	have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of
	5539	making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised
	5540	at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His
	5541	appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him
	5542	without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face
	5543	disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has
	5544	turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a
	5545	pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular
	5546	contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid
	5547	the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he
	5548	is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be
	5549	thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now
	5550	learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been
	5551	the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest."
	5552
	5553	"But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed
	5554	against a man in the prime of life?"
	5555
	5556	"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in
	5557	other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man.
	5558	Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that
	5559	weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional
	5560	strength in the others."
	5561
	5562	"Pray continue your narrative."
	5563
	5564	"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the
	5565	window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her
	5566	presence could be of no help to them in their investigations.
	5567	Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful
	5568	examination of the premises, but without finding anything which
	5569	threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not
	5570	arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes
	5571	during which he might have communicated with his friend the
	5572	Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and
	5573	searched, without anything being found which could incriminate
	5574	him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right
	5575	shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been
	5576	cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from
	5577	there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and
	5578	that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from
	5579	the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr.
	5580	Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in
	5581	his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to
	5582	Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband
	5583	at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or
	5584	dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the
	5585	police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in
	5586	the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.
	5587
	5588	"And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they
	5589	had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not
	5590	Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And
	5591	what do you think they found in the pockets?"
	5592
	5593	"I cannot imagine."
	5594
	5595	"No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with
	5596	pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It
	5597	was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a
	5598	human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between
	5599	the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the
	5600	weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked
	5601	away into the river."
	5602
	5603	"But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the
	5604	room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?"
	5605
	5606	"No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose
	5607	that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the
	5608	window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed.
	5609	What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him
	5610	that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize
	5611	the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it
	5612	would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little
	5613	time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried
	5614	to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his
	5615	Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street.
	5616	There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret
	5617	hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he
	5618	stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the
	5619	pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and
	5620	would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard
	5621	the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the
	5622	window when the police appeared."
	5623
	5624	"It certainly sounds feasible."
	5625
	5626	"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a
	5627	better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the
	5628	station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before
	5629	been anything against him. He had for years been known as a
	5630	professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very
	5631	quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and
	5632	the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was
	5633	doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is
	5634	he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are
	5635	all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot
	5636	recall any case within my experience which looked at the first
	5637	glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."
	5638
	5639	While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of
	5640	events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great
	5641	town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and
	5642	we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us.
	5643	Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered
	5644	villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.
	5645
	5646	"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have
	5647	touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in
	5648	Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent.
	5649	See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside
	5650	that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have
	5651	little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet."
	5652
	5653	"But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I
	5654	asked.
	5655
	5656	"Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here.
	5657	Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and
	5658	you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for
	5659	my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have
	5660	no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
	5661
	5662	We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its
	5663	own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and
	5664	springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding
	5665	gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door
	5666	flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad
	5667	in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy
	5668	pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure
	5669	outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one
	5670	half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head
	5671	and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing
	5672	question.
	5673
	5674	"Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two
	5675	of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw
	5676	that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
	5677
	5678	"No good news?"
	5679
	5680	"None."
	5681
	5682	"No bad?"
	5683
	5684	"No."
	5685
	5686	"Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have
	5687	had a long day."
	5688
	5689	"This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to
	5690	me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it
	5691	possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this
	5692	investigation."
	5693
	5694	"I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly.
	5695	"You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our
	5696	arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so
	5697	suddenly upon us."
	5698
	5699	"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were
	5700	not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of
	5701	any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be
	5702	indeed happy."
	5703
	5704	"Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a
	5705	well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had
	5706	been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two
	5707	plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain
	5708	answer."
	5709
	5710	"Certainly, madam."
	5711
	5712	"Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given
	5713	to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
	5714
	5715	"Upon what point?"
	5716
	5717	"In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
	5718
	5719	Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question.
	5720	"Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking
	5721	keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.
	5722
	5723	"Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
	5724
	5725	"You think that he is dead?"
	5726
	5727	"I do."
	5728
	5729	"Murdered?"
	5730
	5731	"I don't say that. Perhaps."
	5732
	5733	"And on what day did he meet his death?"
	5734
	5735	"On Monday."
	5736
	5737	"Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how
	5738	it is that I have received a letter from him to-day."
	5739
	5740	Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been
	5741	galvanised.
	5742
	5743	"What!" he roared.
	5744
	5745	"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of
	5746	paper in the air.
	5747
	5748	"May I see it?"
	5749
	5750	"Certainly."
	5751
	5752	He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out
	5753	upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I
	5754	had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The
	5755	envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend
	5756	postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day
	5757	before, for it was considerably after midnight.
	5758
	5759	"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your
	5760	husband's writing, madam."
	5761
	5762	"No, but the enclosure is."
	5763
	5764	"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go
	5765	and inquire as to the address."
	5766
	5767	"How can you tell that?"
	5768
	5769	"The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried
	5770	itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that
	5771	blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight
	5772	off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This
	5773	man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before
	5774	he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not
	5775	familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is
	5776	nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha!
	5777	there has been an enclosure here!"
	5778
	5779	"Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
	5780
	5781	"And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
	5782
	5783	"One of his hands."
	5784
	5785	"One?"
	5786
	5787	"His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual
	5788	writing, and yet I know it well."
	5789
	5790	"'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a
	5791	huge error which it may take some little time to rectify.
	5792	Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf
	5793	of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in
	5794	Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been
	5795	gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been
	5796	chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's
	5797	hand, madam?"
	5798
	5799	"None. Neville wrote those words."
	5800
	5801	"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair,
	5802	the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the
	5803	danger is over."
	5804
	5805	"But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
	5806
	5807	"Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent.
	5808	The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from
	5809	him."
	5810
	5811	"No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
	5812
	5813	"Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only
	5814	posted to-day."
	5815
	5816	"That is possible."
	5817
	5818	"If so, much may have happened between."
	5819
	5820	"Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is
	5821	well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I
	5822	should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him
	5823	last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room
	5824	rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that
	5825	something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such
	5826	a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?"
	5827
	5828	"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman
	5829	may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical
	5830	reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong
	5831	piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband
	5832	is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away
	5833	from you?"
	5834
	5835	"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
	5836
	5837	"And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
	5838
	5839	"No."
	5840
	5841	"And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
	5842
	5843	"Very much so."
	5844
	5845	"Was the window open?"
	5846
	5847	"Yes."
	5848
	5849	"Then he might have called to you?"
	5850
	5851	"He might."
	5852
	5853	"He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
	5854
	5855	"Yes."
	5856
	5857	"A call for help, you thought?"
	5858
	5859	"Yes. He waved his hands."
	5860
	5861	"But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the
	5862	unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
	5863
	5864	"It is possible."
	5865
	5866	"And you thought he was pulled back?"
	5867
	5868	"He disappeared so suddenly."
	5869
	5870	"He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the
	5871	room?"
	5872
	5873	"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and
	5874	the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs."
	5875
	5876	"Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his
	5877	ordinary clothes on?"
	5878
	5879	"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare
	5880	throat."
	5881
	5882	"Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
	5883
	5884	"Never."
	5885
	5886	"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
	5887
	5888	"Never."
	5889
	5890	"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about
	5891	which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little
	5892	supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day
	5893	to-morrow."
	5894
	5895	A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our
	5896	disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary
	5897	after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however,
	5898	who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for
	5899	days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over,
	5900	rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view
	5901	until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his
	5902	data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now
	5903	preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and
	5904	waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered
	5905	about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from
	5906	the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of
	5907	Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with
	5908	an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front
	5909	of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an
	5910	old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the
	5911	corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him,
	5912	silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set
	5913	aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he
	5914	sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found
	5915	the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still
	5916	between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was
	5917	full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of
	5918	shag which I had seen upon the previous night.
	5919
	5920	"Awake, Watson?" he asked.
	5921
	5922	"Yes."
	5923
	5924	"Game for a morning drive?"
	5925
	5926	"Certainly."
	5927
	5928	"Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the
	5929	stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He
	5930	chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed
	5931	a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night.
	5932
	5933	As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one
	5934	was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly
	5935	finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was
	5936	putting in the horse.
	5937
	5938	"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his
	5939	boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the
	5940	presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve
	5941	to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the
	5942	key of the affair now."
	5943
	5944	"And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
	5945
	5946	"In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he
	5947	continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been
	5948	there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this
	5949	Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will
	5950	not fit the lock."
	5951
	5952	We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into
	5953	the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and
	5954	trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both
	5955	sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country
	5956	carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but
	5957	the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as
	5958	some city in a dream.
	5959
	5960	"It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes,
	5961	flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been
	5962	as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than
	5963	never to learn it at all."
	5964
	5965	In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily
	5966	from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey
	5967	side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the
	5968	river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the
	5969	right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well
	5970	known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted
	5971	him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in.
	5972
	5973	"Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
	5974
	5975	"Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
	5976
	5977	"Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come
	5978	down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged
	5979	jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet."
	5980	"Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small,
	5981	office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a
	5982	telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his
	5983	desk.
	5984
	5985	"What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
	5986
	5987	"I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged
	5988	with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St.
	5989	Clair, of Lee."
	5990
	5991	"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
	5992
	5993	"So I heard. You have him here?"
	5994
	5995	"In the cells."
	5996
	5997	"Is he quiet?"
	5998
	5999	"Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
	6000
	6001	"Dirty?"
	6002
	6003	"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his
	6004	face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been
	6005	settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you
	6006	saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it."
	6007
	6008	"I should like to see him very much."
	6009
	6010	"Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave
	6011	your bag."
	6012
	6013	"No, I think that I'll take it."
	6014
	6015	"Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a
	6016	passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and
	6017	brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each
	6018	side.
	6019
	6020	"The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it
	6021	is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door
	6022	and glanced through.
	6023
	6024	"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
	6025
	6026	We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his
	6027	face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and
	6028	heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his
	6029	calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his
	6030	tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely
	6031	dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its
	6032	repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right
	6033	across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up
	6034	one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a
	6035	perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over
	6036	his eyes and forehead.
	6037
	6038	"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
	6039
	6040	"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that
	6041	he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me."
	6042	He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my
	6043	astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
	6044
	6045	"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
	6046
	6047	"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very
	6048	quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable
	6049	figure."
	6050
	6051	"Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't
	6052	look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his
	6053	key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The
	6054	sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep
	6055	slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge,
	6056	and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the
	6057	prisoner's face.
	6058
	6059	"Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of
	6060	Lee, in the county of Kent."
	6061
	6062	Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled
	6063	off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the
	6064	coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had
	6065	seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the
	6066	repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled
	6067	red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale,
	6068	sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned,
	6069	rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment.
	6070	Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and
	6071	threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
	6072
	6073	"Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing
	6074	man. I know him from the photograph."
	6075
	6076	The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons
	6077	himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I
	6078	charged with?"
	6079
	6080	"With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be
	6081	charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of
	6082	it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been
	6083	twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake."
	6084
	6085	"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime
	6086	has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally
	6087	detained."
	6088
	6089	"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said
	6090	Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife."
	6091
	6092	"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner.
	6093	"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My
	6094	God! What an exposure! What can I do?"
	6095
	6096	Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him
	6097	kindly on the shoulder.
	6098
	6099	"If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said
	6100	he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand,
	6101	if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible
	6102	case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the
	6103	details should find their way into the papers. Inspector
	6104	Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you
	6105	might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case
	6106	would then never go into court at all."
	6107
	6108	"God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have
	6109	endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left
	6110	my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
	6111
	6112	"You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a
	6113	schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent
	6114	education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and
	6115	finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day
	6116	my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the
	6117	metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point
	6118	from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying
	6119	begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to
	6120	base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the
	6121	secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for
	6122	my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my
	6123	face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good
	6124	scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a
	6125	small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of
	6126	hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business
	6127	part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a
	6128	beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned
	6129	home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no
	6130	less than 26s. 4d.
	6131
	6132	"I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until,
	6133	some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ
	6134	served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get
	6135	the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's
	6136	grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers,
	6137	and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In
	6138	ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.
	6139
	6140	"Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous
	6141	work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in
	6142	a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on
	6143	the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my
	6144	pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up
	6145	reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first
	6146	chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets
	6147	with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a
	6148	low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could
	6149	every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings
	6150	transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow,
	6151	a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that
	6152	my secret was safe in his possession.
	6153
	6154	"Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of
	6155	money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London
	6156	could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average
	6157	takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making
	6158	up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by
	6159	practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City.
	6160	All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me,
	6161	and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds.
	6162
	6163	"As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the
	6164	country, and eventually married, without anyone having a
	6165	suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had
	6166	business in the City. She little knew what.
	6167
	6168	"Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my
	6169	room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw,
	6170	to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the
	6171	street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of
	6172	surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my
	6173	confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from
	6174	coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that
	6175	she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on
	6176	those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's
	6177	eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it
	6178	occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that
	6179	the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening
	6180	by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in
	6181	the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was
	6182	weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from
	6183	the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of
	6184	the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes
	6185	would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of
	6186	constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather,
	6187	I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr.
	6188	Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.
	6189
	6190	"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I
	6191	was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and
	6192	hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would
	6193	be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the
	6194	Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together
	6195	with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to
	6196	fear."
	6197
	6198	"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
	6199
	6200	"Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
	6201
	6202	"The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet,
	6203	"and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to
	6204	post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor
	6205	customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days."
	6206
	6207	"That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt
	6208	of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
	6209
	6210	"Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
	6211
	6212	"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are
	6213	to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
	6214
	6215	"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
	6216
	6217	"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps
	6218	may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out.
	6219	I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for
	6220	having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your
	6221	results."
	6222
	6223	"I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five
	6224	pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if
	6225	we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast."
	6226
	6227
	6228
	6229	VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
	6230
	6231	I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second
	6232	morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the
	6233	compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a
	6234	purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the
	6235	right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly
	6236	studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and
	6237	on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable
	6238	hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several
	6239	places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair
	6240	suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the
	6241	purpose of examination.
	6242
	6243	"You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you."
	6244
	6245	"Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss
	6246	my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his
	6247	thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in
	6248	connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and
	6249	even of instruction."
	6250
	6251	I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his
	6252	crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows
	6253	were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that,
	6254	homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to
	6255	it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of
	6256	some mystery and the punishment of some crime."
	6257
	6258	"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of
	6259	those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have
	6260	four million human beings all jostling each other within the
	6261	space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so
	6262	dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events
	6263	may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be
	6264	presented which may be striking and bizarre without being
	6265	criminal. We have already had experience of such."
	6266
	6267	"So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I
	6268	have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any
	6269	legal crime."
	6270
	6271	"Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler
	6272	papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the
	6273	adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt
	6274	that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category.
	6275	You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"
	6276
	6277	"Yes."
	6278
	6279	"It is to him that this trophy belongs."
	6280
	6281	"It is his hat."
	6282
	6283	"No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will
	6284	look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual
	6285	problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon
	6286	Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I
	6287	have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's
	6288	fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas
	6289	morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was
	6290	returning from some small jollification and was making his way
	6291	homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in
	6292	the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and
	6293	carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the
	6294	corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger
	6295	and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the
	6296	man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and,
	6297	swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him.
	6298	Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his
	6299	assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and
	6300	seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him,
	6301	dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the
	6302	labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham
	6303	Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of
	6304	Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of
	6305	battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this
	6306	battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose."
	6307
	6308	"Which surely he restored to their owner?"
	6309
	6310	"My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For
	6311	Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to
	6312	the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H.
	6313	B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are
	6314	some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in
	6315	this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any
	6316	one of them."
	6317
	6318	"What, then, did Peterson do?"
	6319
	6320	"He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning,
	6321	knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me.
	6322	The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs
	6323	that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it
	6324	should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried
	6325	it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose,
	6326	while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who
	6327	lost his Christmas dinner."
	6328
	6329	"Did he not advertise?"
	6330
	6331	"No."
	6332
	6333	"Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?"
	6334
	6335	"Only as much as we can deduce."
	6336
	6337	"From his hat?"
	6338
	6339	"Precisely."
	6340
	6341	"But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered
	6342	felt?"
	6343
	6344	"Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather
	6345	yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this
	6346	article?"
	6347
	6348	I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather
	6349	ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round
	6350	shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of
	6351	red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's
	6352	name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were
	6353	scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a
	6354	hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was
	6355	cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places,
	6356	although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the
	6357	discoloured patches by smearing them with ink.
	6358
	6359	"I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend.
	6360
	6361	"On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail,
	6362	however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in
	6363	drawing your inferences."
	6364
	6365	"Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?"
	6366
	6367	He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective
	6368	fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less
	6369	suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there
	6370	are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others
	6371	which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That
	6372	the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the
	6373	face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the
	6374	last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He
	6375	had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a
	6376	moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his
	6377	fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink,
	6378	at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that
	6379	his wife has ceased to love him."
	6380
	6381	"My dear Holmes!"
	6382
	6383	"He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he
	6384	continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a
	6385	sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is
	6386	middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the
	6387	last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are
	6388	the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also,
	6389	by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid
	6390	on in his house."
	6391
	6392	"You are certainly joking, Holmes."
	6393
	6394	"Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you
	6395	these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?"
	6396
	6397	"I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I
	6398	am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that
	6399	this man was intellectual?"
	6400
	6401	For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right
	6402	over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is
	6403	a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a
	6404	brain must have something in it."
	6405
	6406	"The decline of his fortunes, then?"
	6407
	6408	"This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge
	6409	came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the
	6410	band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could
	6411	afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no
	6412	hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world."
	6413
	6414	"Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the
	6415	foresight and the moral retrogression?"
	6416
	6417	Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting
	6418	his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer.
	6419	"They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a
	6420	sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his
	6421	way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see
	6422	that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace
	6423	it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly,
	6424	which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other
	6425	hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the
	6426	felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not
	6427	entirely lost his self-respect."
	6428
	6429	"Your reasoning is certainly plausible."
	6430
	6431	"The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is
	6432	grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses
	6433	lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the
	6434	lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of
	6435	hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all
	6436	appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of
	6437	lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey
	6438	dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house,
	6439	showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while
	6440	the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the
	6441	wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in
	6442	the best of training."
	6443
	6444	"But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him."
	6445
	6446	"This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear
	6447	Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and
	6448	when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear
	6449	that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's
	6450	affection."
	6451
	6452	"But he might be a bachelor."
	6453
	6454	"Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his
	6455	wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg."
	6456
	6457	"You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce
	6458	that the gas is not laid on in his house?"
	6459
	6460	"One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I
	6461	see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt
	6462	that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with
	6463	burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in
	6464	one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never
	6465	got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?"
	6466
	6467	"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as
	6468	you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm
	6469	done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a
	6470	waste of energy."
	6471
	6472	Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew
	6473	open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment
	6474	with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with
	6475	astonishment.
	6476
	6477	"The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped.
	6478
	6479	"Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off
	6480	through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon
	6481	the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.
	6482
	6483	"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out
	6484	his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
	6485	scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but
	6486	of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric
	6487	point in the dark hollow of his hand.
	6488
	6489	Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said
	6490	he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you
	6491	have got?"
	6492
	6493	"A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though
	6494	it were putty."
	6495
	6496	"It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone."
	6497
	6498	"Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated.
	6499
	6500	"Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I
	6501	have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day
	6502	lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be
	6503	conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly
	6504	not within a twentieth part of the market price."
	6505
	6506	"A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire
	6507	plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.
	6508
	6509	"That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
	6510	sentimental considerations in the background which would induce
	6511	the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but
	6512	recover the gem."
	6513
	6514	"It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I
	6515	remarked.
	6516
	6517	"Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner,
	6518	a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's
	6519	jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case
	6520	has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the
	6521	matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers,
	6522	glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out,
	6523	doubled it over, and read the following paragraph:
	6524
	6525	"Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was
	6526	brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst.,
	6527	abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the
	6528	valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder,
	6529	upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect
	6530	that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess
	6531	of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might
	6532	solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had
	6533	remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been
	6534	called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared,
	6535	that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco
	6536	casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was
	6537	accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the
	6538	dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was
	6539	arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found
	6540	either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to
	6541	the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on
	6542	discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room,
	6543	where she found matters as described by the last witness.
	6544	Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest
	6545	of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence
	6546	in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for
	6547	robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate
	6548	refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to
	6549	the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion
	6550	during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was
	6551	carried out of court."
	6552
	6553	"Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully,
	6554	tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the
	6555	sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to
	6556	the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You
	6557	see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much
	6558	more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the
	6559	stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry
	6560	Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other
	6561	characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set
	6562	ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and
	6563	ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To
	6564	do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie
	6565	undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If
	6566	this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods."
	6567
	6568	"What will you say?"
	6569
	6570	"Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at
	6571	the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr.
	6572	Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at
	6573	221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise."
	6574
	6575	"Very. But will he see it?"
	6576
	6577	"Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor
	6578	man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his
	6579	mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson
	6580	that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must
	6581	have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his
	6582	bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to
	6583	see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to
	6584	it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency
	6585	and have this put in the evening papers."
	6586
	6587	"In which, sir?"
	6588
	6589	"Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News,
	6590	Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you."
	6591
	6592	"Very well, sir. And this stone?"
	6593
	6594	"Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say,
	6595	Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here
	6596	with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place
	6597	of the one which your family is now devouring."
	6598
	6599	When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and
	6600	held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just
	6601	see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and
	6602	focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet
	6603	baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a
	6604	bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found
	6605	in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable
	6606	in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is
	6607	blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has
	6608	already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a
	6609	vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about
	6610	for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal.
	6611	Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the
	6612	gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and
	6613	drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it."
	6614
	6615	"Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?"
	6616
	6617	"I cannot tell."
	6618
	6619	"Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had
	6620	anything to do with the matter?"
	6621
	6622	"It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an
	6623	absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he
	6624	was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made
	6625	of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple
	6626	test if we have an answer to our advertisement."
	6627
	6628	"And you can do nothing until then?"
	6629
	6630	"Nothing."
	6631
	6632	"In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall
	6633	come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I
	6634	should like to see the solution of so tangled a business."
	6635
	6636	"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I
	6637	believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I
	6638	ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop."
	6639
	6640	I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past
	6641	six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I
	6642	approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a
	6643	coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the
	6644	bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I
	6645	arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to
	6646	Holmes' room.
	6647
	6648	"Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair
	6649	and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he
	6650	could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr.
	6651	Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is
	6652	more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have
	6653	just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?"
	6654
	6655	"Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."
	6656
	6657	He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a
	6658	broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of
	6659	grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight
	6660	tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his
	6661	habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in
	6662	front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded
	6663	from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a
	6664	slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the
	6665	impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had
	6666	ill-usage at the hands of fortune.
	6667
	6668	"We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes,
	6669	"because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your
	6670	address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise."
	6671
	6672	Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not
	6673	been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had
	6674	no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off
	6675	both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a
	6676	hopeless attempt at recovering them."
	6677
	6678	"Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to
	6679	eat it."
	6680
	6681	"To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his
	6682	excitement.
	6683
	6684	"Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so.
	6685	But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is
	6686	about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your
	6687	purpose equally well?"
	6688
	6689	"Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of
	6690	relief.
	6691
	6692	"Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of
	6693	your own bird, so if you wish--"
	6694
	6695	The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as
	6696	relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly
	6697	see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are
	6698	going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I
	6699	will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive
	6700	upon the sideboard."
	6701
	6702	Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug
	6703	of his shoulders.
	6704
	6705	"There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the
	6706	way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one
	6707	from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a
	6708	better grown goose."
	6709
	6710	"Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly
	6711	gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who
	6712	frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in
	6713	the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our
	6714	good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which,
	6715	on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to
	6716	receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the
	6717	rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a
	6718	Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With
	6719	a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and
	6720	strode off upon his way.
	6721
	6722	"So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the
	6723	door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing
	6724	whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?"
	6725
	6726	"Not particularly."
	6727
	6728	"Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow
	6729	up this clue while it is still hot."
	6730
	6731	"By all means."
	6732
	6733	It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped
	6734	cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly
	6735	in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out
	6736	into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out
	6737	crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter,
	6738	Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into
	6739	Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at
	6740	the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one
	6741	of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open
	6742	the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from
	6743	the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.
	6744
	6745	"Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,"
	6746	said he.
	6747
	6748	"My geese!" The man seemed surprised.
	6749
	6750	"Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker,
	6751	who was a member of your goose club."
	6752
	6753	"Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese."
	6754
	6755	"Indeed! Whose, then?"
	6756
	6757	"Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden."
	6758
	6759	"Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?"
	6760
	6761	"Breckinridge is his name."
	6762
	6763	"Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord,
	6764	and prosperity to your house. Good-night."
	6765
	6766	"Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat
	6767	as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though
	6768	we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we
	6769	have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal
	6770	servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible
	6771	that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we
	6772	have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police,
	6773	and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us
	6774	follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and
	6775	quick march!"
	6776
	6777	We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a
	6778	zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest
	6779	stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor
	6780	a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was
	6781	helping a boy to put up the shutters.
	6782
	6783	"Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.
	6784
	6785	The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my
	6786	companion.
	6787
	6788	"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the
	6789	bare slabs of marble.
	6790
	6791	"Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning."
	6792
	6793	"That's no good."
	6794
	6795	"Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare."
	6796
	6797	"Ah, but I was recommended to you."
	6798
	6799	"Who by?"
	6800
	6801	"The landlord of the Alpha."
	6802
	6803	"Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen."
	6804
	6805	"Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?"
	6806
	6807	To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the
	6808	salesman.
	6809
	6810	"Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms
	6811	akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now."
	6812
	6813	"It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the
	6814	geese which you supplied to the Alpha."
	6815
	6816	"Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"
	6817
	6818	"Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you
	6819	should be so warm over such a trifle."
	6820
	6821	"Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am.
	6822	When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end
	6823	of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you
	6824	sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One
	6825	would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the
	6826	fuss that is made over them."
	6827
	6828	"Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been
	6829	making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us
	6830	the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my
	6831	opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the
	6832	bird I ate is country bred."
	6833
	6834	"Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped
	6835	the salesman.
	6836
	6837	"It's nothing of the kind."
	6838
	6839	"I say it is."
	6840
	6841	"I don't believe it."
	6842
	6843	"D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled
	6844	them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that
	6845	went to the Alpha were town bred."
	6846
	6847	"You'll never persuade me to believe that."
	6848
	6849	"Will you bet, then?"
	6850
	6851	"It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But
	6852	I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be
	6853	obstinate."
	6854
	6855	The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said
	6856	he.
	6857
	6858	The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great
	6859	greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging
	6860	lamp.
	6861
	6862	"Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I
	6863	was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is
	6864	still one left in my shop. You see this little book?"
	6865
	6866	"Well?"
	6867
	6868	"That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well,
	6869	then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers
	6870	after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger.
	6871	Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a
	6872	list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just
	6873	read it out to me."
	6874
	6875	"Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes.
	6876
	6877	"Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger."
	6878
	6879	Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs.
	6880	Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'"
	6881
	6882	"Now, then, what's the last entry?"
	6883
	6884	"'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'"
	6885
	6886	"Quite so. There you are. And underneath?"
	6887
	6888	"'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'"
	6889
	6890	"What have you to say now?"
	6891
	6892	Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from
	6893	his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the
	6894	air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off
	6895	he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless
	6896	fashion which was peculiar to him.
	6897
	6898	"When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un'
	6899	protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,"
	6900	said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of
	6901	him, that man would not have given me such complete information
	6902	as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a
	6903	wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our
	6904	quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is
	6905	whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or
	6906	whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what
	6907	that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves
	6908	who are anxious about the matter, and I should--"
	6909
	6910	His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke
	6911	out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a
	6912	little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of
	6913	yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while
	6914	Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was
	6915	shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure.
	6916
	6917	"I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you
	6918	were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more
	6919	with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs.
	6920	Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with
	6921	it? Did I buy the geese off you?"
	6922
	6923	"No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little
	6924	man.
	6925
	6926	"Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it."
	6927
	6928	"She told me to ask you."
	6929
	6930	"Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had
	6931	enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and
	6932	the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.
	6933
	6934	"Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes.
	6935	"Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this
	6936	fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who
	6937	lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook
	6938	the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang
	6939	round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of
	6940	colour had been driven from his face.
	6941
	6942	"Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering
	6943	voice.
	6944
	6945	"You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help
	6946	overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now.
	6947	I think that I could be of assistance to you."
	6948
	6949	"You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?"
	6950
	6951	"My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other
	6952	people don't know."
	6953
	6954	"But you can know nothing of this?"
	6955
	6956	"Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to
	6957	trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton
	6958	Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr.
	6959	Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr.
	6960	Henry Baker is a member."
	6961
	6962	"Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried
	6963	the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers.
	6964	"I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter."
	6965
	6966	Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that
	6967	case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this
	6968	wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we
	6969	go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting."
	6970
	6971	The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he
	6972	answered with a sidelong glance.
	6973
	6974	"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always
	6975	awkward doing business with an alias."
	6976
	6977	A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then,"
	6978	said he, "my real name is James Ryder."
	6979
	6980	"Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray
	6981	step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you
	6982	everything which you would wish to know."
	6983
	6984	The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with
	6985	half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure
	6986	whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe.
	6987	Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in
	6988	the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during
	6989	our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and
	6990	the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous
	6991	tension within him.
	6992
	6993	"Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room.
	6994	"The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold,
	6995	Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my
	6996	slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then!
	6997	You want to know what became of those geese?"
	6998
	6999	"Yes, sir."
	7000
	7001	"Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in
	7002	which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the
	7003	tail."
	7004
	7005	Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell
	7006	me where it went to?"
	7007
	7008	"It came here."
	7009
	7010	"Here?"
	7011
	7012	"Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that
	7013	you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was
	7014	dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen.
	7015	I have it here in my museum."
	7016
	7017	Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece
	7018	with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up
	7019	the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold,
	7020	brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a
	7021	drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it.
	7022
	7023	"The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or
	7024	you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair,
	7025	Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with
	7026	impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little
	7027	more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!"
	7028
	7029	For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy
	7030	brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring
	7031	with frightened eyes at his accuser.
	7032
	7033	"I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I
	7034	could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
	7035	Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case
	7036	complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the
	7037	Countess of Morcar's?"
	7038
	7039	"It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a
	7040	crackling voice.
	7041
	7042	"I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of
	7043	sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has
	7044	been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous
	7045	in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the
	7046	making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man
	7047	Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter
	7048	before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him.
	7049	What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's
	7050	room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he
	7051	should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled
	7052	the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man
	7053	arrested. You then--"
	7054
	7055	Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
	7056	companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked.
	7057	"Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I
	7058	never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll
	7059	swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's
	7060	sake, don't!"
	7061
	7062	"Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well
	7063	to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this
	7064	poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing."
	7065
	7066	"I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the
	7067	charge against him will break down."
	7068
	7069	"Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account
	7070	of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came
	7071	the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies
	7072	your only hope of safety."
	7073
	7074	Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you
	7075	it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been
	7076	arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get
	7077	away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment
	7078	the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my
	7079	room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe.
	7080	I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's
	7081	house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton
	7082	Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there
	7083	every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective;
	7084	and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down
	7085	my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me
	7086	what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I
	7087	had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went
	7088	into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would
	7089	be best to do.
	7090
	7091	"I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and
	7092	has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met
	7093	me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they
	7094	could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to
	7095	me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind
	7096	to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my
	7097	confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money.
	7098	But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had
	7099	gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be
	7100	seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat
	7101	pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at
	7102	the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly
	7103	an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the
	7104	best detective that ever lived.
	7105
	7106	"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the
	7107	pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she
	7108	was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in
	7109	it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in
	7110	the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big
	7111	one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill
	7112	open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger
	7113	could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass
	7114	along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped
	7115	and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the
	7116	matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and
	7117	fluttered off among the others.
	7118
	7119	"'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.
	7120
	7121	"'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I
	7122	was feeling which was the fattest.'
	7123
	7124	"'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we
	7125	call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six
	7126	of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen
	7127	for the market.'
	7128
	7129	"'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you,
	7130	I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.'
	7131
	7132	"'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we
	7133	fattened it expressly for you.'
	7134
	7135	"'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I.
	7136
	7137	"'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it
	7138	you want, then?'
	7139
	7140	"'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the
	7141	flock.'
	7142
	7143	"'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'
	7144
	7145	"Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird
	7146	all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was
	7147	a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed
	7148	until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My
	7149	heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I
	7150	knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird,
	7151	rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There
	7152	was not a bird to be seen there.
	7153
	7154	"'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.
	7155
	7156	"'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'
	7157
	7158	"'Which dealer's?'
	7159
	7160	"'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'
	7161
	7162	"'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same
	7163	as the one I chose?'
	7164
	7165	"'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never
	7166	tell them apart.'
	7167
	7168	"Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my
	7169	feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the
	7170	lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they
	7171	had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always
	7172	answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad.
	7173	Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself
	7174	a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which
	7175	I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into
	7176	convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.
	7177
	7178	There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and
	7179	by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the
	7180	edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.
	7181
	7182	"Get out!" said he.
	7183
	7184	"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!"
	7185
	7186	"No more words. Get out!"
	7187
	7188	And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon
	7189	the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running
	7190	footfalls from the street.
	7191
	7192	"After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his
	7193	clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their
	7194	deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing;
	7195	but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must
	7196	collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just
	7197	possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong
	7198	again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and
	7199	you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of
	7200	forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and
	7201	whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you
	7202	will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin
	7203	another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief
	7204	feature."
	7205
	7206
	7207
	7208	VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
	7209
	7210	On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I
	7211	have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend
	7212	Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number
	7213	merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did
	7214	rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of
	7215	wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation
	7216	which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.
	7217	Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which
	7218	presented more singular features than that which was associated
	7219	with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.
	7220	The events in question occurred in the early days of my
	7221	association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors
	7222	in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them
	7223	upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the
	7224	time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by
	7225	the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It
	7226	is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I
	7227	have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the
	7228	death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even
	7229	more terrible than the truth.
	7230
	7231	It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to
	7232	find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my
	7233	bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the
	7234	mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I
	7235	blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little
	7236	resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.
	7237
	7238	"Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the
	7239	common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she
	7240	retorted upon me, and I on you."
	7241
	7242	"What is it, then--a fire?"
	7243
	7244	"No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a
	7245	considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She
	7246	is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander
	7247	about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock
	7248	sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is
	7249	something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it
	7250	prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to
	7251	follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should
	7252	call you and give you the chance."
	7253
	7254	"My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything."
	7255
	7256	I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his
	7257	professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid
	7258	deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a
	7259	logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were
	7260	submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in
	7261	a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A
	7262	lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in
	7263	the window, rose as we entered.
	7264
	7265	"Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock
	7266	Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson,
	7267	before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am
	7268	glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the
	7269	fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot
	7270	coffee, for I observe that you are shivering."
	7271
	7272	"It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low
	7273	voice, changing her seat as requested.
	7274
	7275	"What, then?"
	7276
	7277	"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as
	7278	she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable
	7279	state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless
	7280	frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features
	7281	and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot
	7282	with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard.
	7283	Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick,
	7284	all-comprehensive glances.
	7285
	7286	"You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and
	7287	patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no
	7288	doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see."
	7289
	7290	"You know me, then?"
	7291
	7292	"No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm
	7293	of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had
	7294	a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached
	7295	the station."
	7296
	7297	The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my
	7298	companion.
	7299
	7300	"There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left
	7301	arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven
	7302	places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a
	7303	dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you
	7304	sit on the left-hand side of the driver."
	7305
	7306	"Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said
	7307	she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at
	7308	twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I
	7309	can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues.
	7310	I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me,
	7311	and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you,
	7312	Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you
	7313	helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had
	7314	your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me,
	7315	too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness
	7316	which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward
	7317	you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be
	7318	married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you
	7319	shall not find me ungrateful."
	7320
	7321	Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small
	7322	case-book, which he consulted.
	7323
	7324	"Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was
	7325	concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time,
	7326	Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote
	7327	the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to
	7328	reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty
	7329	to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which
	7330	suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us
	7331	everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the
	7332	matter."
	7333
	7334	"Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation
	7335	lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions
	7336	depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to
	7337	another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to
	7338	look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it
	7339	as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can
	7340	read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have
	7341	heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold
	7342	wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid
	7343	the dangers which encompass me."
	7344
	7345	"I am all attention, madam."
	7346
	7347	"My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who
	7348	is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in
	7349	England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of
	7350	Surrey."
	7351
	7352	Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he.
	7353
	7354	"The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the
	7355	estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north,
	7356	and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four
	7357	successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition,
	7358	and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the
	7359	days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground,
	7360	and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under
	7361	a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence
	7362	there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but
	7363	his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to
	7364	the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which
	7365	enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta,
	7366	where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he
	7367	established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused
	7368	by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he
	7369	beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital
	7370	sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and
	7371	afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
	7372
	7373	"When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner,
	7374	the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery.
	7375	My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old
	7376	at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable
	7377	sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she
	7378	bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him,
	7379	with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to
	7380	each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return
	7381	to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a
	7382	railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his
	7383	attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us
	7384	to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The
	7385	money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and
	7386	there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness.
	7387
	7388	"But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time.
	7389	Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our
	7390	neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of
	7391	Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in
	7392	his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious
	7393	quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper
	7394	approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the
	7395	family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been
	7396	intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of
	7397	disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the
	7398	police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village,
	7399	and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of
	7400	immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger.
	7401
	7402	"Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a
	7403	stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I
	7404	could gather together that I was able to avert another public
	7405	exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies,
	7406	and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few
	7407	acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate,
	7408	and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents,
	7409	wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a
	7410	passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a
	7411	correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon,
	7412	which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the
	7413	villagers almost as much as their master.
	7414
	7415	"You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I
	7416	had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with
	7417	us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was
	7418	but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already
	7419	begun to whiten, even as mine has."
	7420
	7421	"Your sister is dead, then?"
	7422
	7423	"She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish
	7424	to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I
	7425	have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own
	7426	age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden
	7427	sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we
	7428	were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's
	7429	house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there
	7430	a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My
	7431	stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and
	7432	offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of
	7433	the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event
	7434	occurred which has deprived me of my only companion."
	7435
	7436	Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes
	7437	closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his
	7438	lids now and glanced across at his visitor.
	7439
	7440	"Pray be precise as to details," said he.
	7441
	7442	"It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful
	7443	time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have
	7444	already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The
	7445	bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms
	7446	being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms
	7447	the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third
	7448	my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open
	7449	out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?"
	7450
	7451	"Perfectly so."
	7452
	7453	"The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That
	7454	fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we
	7455	knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled
	7456	by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom
	7457	to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where
	7458	she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At
	7459	eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door
	7460	and looked back.
	7461
	7462	"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle
	7463	in the dead of the night?'
	7464
	7465	"'Never,' said I.
	7466
	7467	"'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in
	7468	your sleep?'
	7469
	7470	"'Certainly not. But why?'
	7471
	7472	"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three
	7473	in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper,
	7474	and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps
	7475	from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would
	7476	just ask you whether you had heard it.'
	7477
	7478	"'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the
	7479	plantation.'
	7480
	7481	"'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you
	7482	did not hear it also.'
	7483
	7484	"'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'
	7485
	7486	"'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled
	7487	back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her
	7488	key turn in the lock."
	7489
	7490	"Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock
	7491	yourselves in at night?"
	7492
	7493	"Always."
	7494
	7495	"And why?"
	7496
	7497	"I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah
	7498	and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were
	7499	locked."
	7500
	7501	"Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement."
	7502
	7503	"I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending
	7504	misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect,
	7505	were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two
	7506	souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind
	7507	was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing
	7508	against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale,
	7509	there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew
	7510	that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a
	7511	shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door
	7512	I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and
	7513	a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had
	7514	fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked,
	7515	and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it
	7516	horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By
	7517	the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the
	7518	opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for
	7519	help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a
	7520	drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that
	7521	moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground.
	7522	She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were
	7523	dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not
	7524	recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out
	7525	in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was
	7526	the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she
	7527	would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the
	7528	air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion
	7529	seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for
	7530	my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his
	7531	dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was
	7532	unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent
	7533	for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for
	7534	she slowly sank and died without having recovered her
	7535	consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister."
	7536
	7537	"One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and
	7538	metallic sound? Could you swear to it?"
	7539
	7540	"That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is
	7541	my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of
	7542	the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have
	7543	been deceived."
	7544
	7545	"Was your sister dressed?"
	7546
	7547	"No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the
	7548	charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box."
	7549
	7550	"Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when
	7551	the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did
	7552	the coroner come to?"
	7553
	7554	"He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's
	7555	conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable
	7556	to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that
	7557	the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows
	7558	were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars,
	7559	which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded,
	7560	and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was
	7561	also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is
	7562	wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain,
	7563	therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end.
	7564	Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her."
	7565
	7566	"How about poison?"
	7567
	7568	"The doctors examined her for it, but without success."
	7569
	7570	"What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?"
	7571
	7572	"It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock,
	7573	though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine."
	7574
	7575	"Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?"
	7576
	7577	"Yes, there are nearly always some there."
	7578
	7579	"Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a
	7580	speckled band?"
	7581
	7582	"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of
	7583	delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of
	7584	people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not
	7585	know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear
	7586	over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which
	7587	she used."
	7588
	7589	Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.
	7590
	7591	"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your
	7592	narrative."
	7593
	7594	"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until
	7595	lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend,
	7596	whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask
	7597	my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the
	7598	second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My
	7599	stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to
	7600	be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs
	7601	were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom
	7602	wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the
	7603	chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in
	7604	which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last
	7605	night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I
	7606	suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which
	7607	had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the
	7608	lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to
	7609	go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was
	7610	daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which
	7611	is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on
	7612	this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your
	7613	advice."
	7614
	7615	"You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me
	7616	all?"
	7617
	7618	"Yes, all."
	7619
	7620	"Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather."
	7621
	7622	"Why, what do you mean?"
	7623
	7624	For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which
	7625	fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little
	7626	livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed
	7627	upon the white wrist.
	7628
	7629	"You have been cruelly used," said Holmes.
	7630
	7631	The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He
	7632	is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own
	7633	strength."
	7634
	7635	There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin
	7636	upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire.
	7637
	7638	"This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a
	7639	thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide
	7640	upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If
	7641	we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for
	7642	us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your
	7643	stepfather?"
	7644
	7645	"As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some
	7646	most important business. It is probable that he will be away all
	7647	day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a
	7648	housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily
	7649	get her out of the way."
	7650
	7651	"Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"
	7652
	7653	"By no means."
	7654
	7655	"Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?"
	7656
	7657	"I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am
	7658	in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to
	7659	be there in time for your coming."
	7660
	7661	"And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some
	7662	small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and
	7663	breakfast?"
	7664
	7665	"No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have
	7666	confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you
	7667	again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her
	7668	face and glided from the room.
	7669
	7670	"And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes,
	7671	leaning back in his chair.
	7672
	7673	"It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business."
	7674
	7675	"Dark enough and sinister enough."
	7676
	7677	"Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls
	7678	are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable,
	7679	then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her
	7680	mysterious end."
	7681
	7682	"What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the
	7683	very peculiar words of the dying woman?"
	7684
	7685	"I cannot think."
	7686
	7687	"When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of
	7688	a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor,
	7689	the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has
	7690	an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying
	7691	allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner
	7692	heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of
	7693	those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its
	7694	place, I think that there is good ground to think that the
	7695	mystery may be cleared along those lines."
	7696
	7697	"But what, then, did the gipsies do?"
	7698
	7699	"I cannot imagine."
	7700
	7701	"I see many objections to any such theory."
	7702
	7703	"And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going
	7704	to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are
	7705	fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of
	7706	the devil!"
	7707
	7708	The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that
	7709	our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had
	7710	framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar
	7711	mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a
	7712	black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters,
	7713	with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his
	7714	hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his
	7715	breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face,
	7716	seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and
	7717	marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other
	7718	of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin,
	7719	fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old
	7720	bird of prey.
	7721
	7722	"Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition.
	7723
	7724	"My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my
	7725	companion quietly.
	7726
	7727	"I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran."
	7728
	7729	"Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat."
	7730
	7731	"I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I
	7732	have traced her. What has she been saying to you?"
	7733
	7734	"It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes.
	7735
	7736	"What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man
	7737	furiously.
	7738
	7739	"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my
	7740	companion imperturbably.
	7741
	7742	"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step
	7743	forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel!
	7744	I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler."
	7745
	7746	My friend smiled.
	7747
	7748	"Holmes, the busybody!"
	7749
	7750	His smile broadened.
	7751
	7752	"Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!"
	7753
	7754	Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most
	7755	entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for
	7756	there is a decided draught."
	7757
	7758	"I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with
	7759	my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her!
	7760	I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped
	7761	swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with
	7762	his huge brown hands.
	7763
	7764	"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and
	7765	hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the
	7766	room.
	7767
	7768	"He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am
	7769	not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him
	7770	that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke
	7771	he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort,
	7772	straightened it out again.
	7773
	7774	"Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
	7775	detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation,
	7776	however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer
	7777	from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now,
	7778	Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk
	7779	down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may
	7780	help us in this matter."
	7781
	7782
	7783	It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his
	7784	excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled
	7785	over with notes and figures.
	7786
	7787	"I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To
	7788	determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the
	7789	present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The
	7790	total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little
	7791	short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural
	7792	prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an
	7793	income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident,
	7794	therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have
	7795	had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to
	7796	a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted,
	7797	since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for
	7798	standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson,
	7799	this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is
	7800	aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you
	7801	are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be
	7802	very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your
	7803	pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen
	7804	who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush
	7805	are, I think, all that we need."
	7806
	7807	At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for
	7808	Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove
	7809	for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a
	7810	perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the
	7811	heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out
	7812	their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant
	7813	smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange
	7814	contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this
	7815	sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in
	7816	the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over
	7817	his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the
	7818	deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the
	7819	shoulder, and pointed over the meadows.
	7820
	7821	"Look there!" said he.
	7822
	7823	A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope,
	7824	thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the
	7825	branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a
	7826	very old mansion.
	7827
	7828	"Stoke Moran?" said he.
	7829
	7830	"Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked
	7831	the driver.
	7832
	7833	"There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is
	7834	where we are going."
	7835
	7836	"There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of
	7837	roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the
	7838	house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by
	7839	the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is
	7840	walking."
	7841
	7842	"And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading
	7843	his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest."
	7844
	7845	We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way
	7846	to Leatherhead.
	7847
	7848	"I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile,
	7849	"that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or
	7850	on some definite business. It may stop his gossip.
	7851	Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as
	7852	our word."
	7853
	7854	Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a
	7855	face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for
	7856	you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned
	7857	out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely
	7858	that he will be back before evening."
	7859
	7860	"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance,"
	7861	said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had
	7862	occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.
	7863
	7864	"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then."
	7865
	7866	"So it appears."
	7867
	7868	"He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What
	7869	will he say when he returns?"
	7870
	7871	"He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone
	7872	more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself
	7873	up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to
	7874	your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our
	7875	time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to
	7876	examine."
	7877
	7878	The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high
	7879	central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab,
	7880	thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were
	7881	broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly
	7882	caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little
	7883	better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern,
	7884	and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up
	7885	from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided.
	7886	Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the
	7887	stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any
	7888	workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and
	7889	down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the
	7890	outsides of the windows.
	7891
	7892	"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep,
	7893	the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main
	7894	building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?"
	7895
	7896	"Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one."
	7897
	7898	"Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does
	7899	not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end
	7900	wall."
	7901
	7902	"There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from
	7903	my room."
	7904
	7905	"Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow
	7906	wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There
	7907	are windows in it, of course?"
	7908
	7909	"Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass
	7910	through."
	7911
	7912	"As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were
	7913	unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness
	7914	to go into your room and bar your shutters?"
	7915
	7916	Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination
	7917	through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the
	7918	shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through
	7919	which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his
	7920	lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built
	7921	firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his
	7922	chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some
	7923	difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were
	7924	bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon
	7925	the matter."
	7926
	7927	A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which
	7928	the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third
	7929	chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss
	7930	Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her
	7931	fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a
	7932	gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A
	7933	brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow
	7934	white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the
	7935	left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small
	7936	wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save
	7937	for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and
	7938	the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old
	7939	and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building
	7940	of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat
	7941	silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down,
	7942	taking in every detail of the apartment.
	7943
	7944	"Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last
	7945	pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the
	7946	tassel actually lying upon the pillow.
	7947
	7948	"It goes to the housekeeper's room."
	7949
	7950	"It looks newer than the other things?"
	7951
	7952	"Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago."
	7953
	7954	"Your sister asked for it, I suppose?"
	7955
	7956	"No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we
	7957	wanted for ourselves."
	7958
	7959	"Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there.
	7960	You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to
	7961	this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in
	7962	his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining
	7963	minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with
	7964	the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he
	7965	walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and
	7966	in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the
	7967	bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug.
	7968
	7969	"Why, it's a dummy," said he.
	7970
	7971	"Won't it ring?"
	7972
	7973	"No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting.
	7974	You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where
	7975	the little opening for the ventilator is."
	7976
	7977	"How very absurd! I never noticed that before."
	7978
	7979	"Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are
	7980	one or two very singular points about this room. For example,
	7981	what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another
	7982	room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated
	7983	with the outside air!"
	7984
	7985	"That is also quite modern," said the lady.
	7986
	7987	"Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes.
	7988
	7989	"Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that
	7990	time."
	7991
	7992	"They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy
	7993	bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your
	7994	permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into
	7995	the inner apartment."
	7996
	7997	Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his
	7998	step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small
	7999	wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an
	8000	armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a
	8001	round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things
	8002	which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each
	8003	and all of them with the keenest interest.
	8004
	8005	"What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe.
	8006
	8007	"My stepfather's business papers."
	8008
	8009	"Oh! you have seen inside, then?"
	8010
	8011	"Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of
	8012	papers."
	8013
	8014	"There isn't a cat in it, for example?"
	8015
	8016	"No. What a strange idea!"
	8017
	8018	"Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which
	8019	stood on the top of it.
	8020
	8021	"No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."
	8022
	8023	"Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a
	8024	saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I
	8025	daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He
	8026	squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat
	8027	of it with the greatest attention.
	8028
	8029	"Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting
	8030	his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!"
	8031
	8032	The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on
	8033	one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself
	8034	and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord.
	8035
	8036	"What do you make of that, Watson?"
	8037
	8038	"It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be
	8039	tied."
	8040
	8041	"That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world,
	8042	and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst
	8043	of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and
	8044	with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn."
	8045
	8046	I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as
	8047	it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We
	8048	had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss
	8049	Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he
	8050	roused himself from his reverie.
	8051
	8052	"It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should
	8053	absolutely follow my advice in every respect."
	8054
	8055	"I shall most certainly do so."
	8056
	8057	"The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may
	8058	depend upon your compliance."
	8059
	8060	"I assure you that I am in your hands."
	8061
	8062	"In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in
	8063	your room."
	8064
	8065	Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
	8066
	8067	"Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the
	8068	village inn over there?"
	8069
	8070	"Yes, that is the Crown."
	8071
	8072	"Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?"
	8073
	8074	"Certainly."
	8075
	8076	"You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a
	8077	headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him
	8078	retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window,
	8079	undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then
	8080	withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want
	8081	into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in
	8082	spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night."
	8083
	8084	"Oh, yes, easily."
	8085
	8086	"The rest you will leave in our hands."
	8087
	8088	"But what will you do?"
	8089
	8090	"We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate
	8091	the cause of this noise which has disturbed you."
	8092
	8093	"I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,"
	8094	said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.
	8095
	8096	"Perhaps I have."
	8097
	8098	"Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's
	8099	death."
	8100
	8101	"I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak."
	8102
	8103	"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and
	8104	if she died from some sudden fright."
	8105
	8106	"No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more
	8107	tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if
	8108	Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain.
	8109	Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you,
	8110	you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers
	8111	that threaten you."
	8112
	8113	Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and
	8114	sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and
	8115	from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and
	8116	of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw
	8117	Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside
	8118	the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some
	8119	slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard
	8120	the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which
	8121	he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few
	8122	minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as
	8123	the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.
	8124
	8125	"Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the
	8126	gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you
	8127	to-night. There is a distinct element of danger."
	8128
	8129	"Can I be of assistance?"
	8130
	8131	"Your presence might be invaluable."
	8132
	8133	"Then I shall certainly come."
	8134
	8135	"It is very kind of you."
	8136
	8137	"You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms
	8138	than was visible to me."
	8139
	8140	"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine
	8141	that you saw all that I did."
	8142
	8143	"I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose
	8144	that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine."
	8145
	8146	"You saw the ventilator, too?"
	8147
	8148	"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to
	8149	have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a
	8150	rat could hardly pass through."
	8151
	8152	"I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to
	8153	Stoke Moran."
	8154
	8155	"My dear Holmes!"
	8156
	8157	"Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her
	8158	sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that
	8159	suggested at once that there must be a communication between the
	8160	two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been
	8161	remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator."
	8162
	8163	"But what harm can there be in that?"
	8164
	8165	"Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A
	8166	ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the
	8167	bed dies. Does not that strike you?"
	8168
	8169	"I cannot as yet see any connection."
	8170
	8171	"Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?"
	8172
	8173	"No."
	8174
	8175	"It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened
	8176	like that before?"
	8177
	8178	"I cannot say that I have."
	8179
	8180	"The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same
	8181	relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may
	8182	call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull."
	8183
	8184	"Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at.
	8185	We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible
	8186	crime."
	8187
	8188	"Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong
	8189	he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.
	8190	Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.
	8191	This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall
	8192	be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough
	8193	before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet
	8194	pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more
	8195	cheerful."
	8196
	8197
	8198	About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished,
	8199	and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours
	8200	passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of
	8201	eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us.
	8202
	8203	"That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it
	8204	comes from the middle window."
	8205
	8206	As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord,
	8207	explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance,
	8208	and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A
	8209	moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing
	8210	in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us
	8211	through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.
	8212
	8213	There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for
	8214	unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way
	8215	among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about
	8216	to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel
	8217	bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted
	8218	child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and
	8219	then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness.
	8220
	8221	"My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"
	8222
	8223	Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like
	8224	a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low
	8225	laugh and put his lips to my ear.
	8226
	8227	"It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon."
	8228
	8229	I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There
	8230	was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders
	8231	at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when,
	8232	after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I
	8233	found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed
	8234	the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes
	8235	round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then
	8236	creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered
	8237	into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to
	8238	distinguish the words:
	8239
	8240	"The least sound would be fatal to our plans."
	8241
	8242	I nodded to show that I had heard.
	8243
	8244	"We must sit without light. He would see it through the
	8245	ventilator."
	8246
	8247	I nodded again.
	8248
	8249	"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your
	8250	pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of
	8251	the bed, and you in that chair."
	8252
	8253	I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.
	8254
	8255	Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon
	8256	the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the
	8257	stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left
	8258	in darkness.
	8259
	8260	How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a
	8261	sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my
	8262	companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same
	8263	state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut
	8264	off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.
	8265
	8266	From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at
	8267	our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that
	8268	the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the
	8269	deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of
	8270	an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and
	8271	one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for
	8272	whatever might befall.
	8273
	8274	Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the
	8275	direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was
	8276	succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal.
	8277	Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle
	8278	sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the
	8279	smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears.
	8280	Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle,
	8281	soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping
	8282	continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes
	8283	sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with
	8284	his cane at the bell-pull.
	8285
	8286	"You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?"
	8287
	8288	But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I
	8289	heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my
	8290	weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which
	8291	my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face
	8292	was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had
	8293	ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when
	8294	suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most
	8295	horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder
	8296	and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled
	8297	in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the
	8298	village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the
	8299	sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I
	8300	stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it
	8301	had died away into the silence from which it rose.
	8302
	8303	"What can it mean?" I gasped.
	8304
	8305	"It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps,
	8306	after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will
	8307	enter Dr. Roylott's room."
	8308
	8309	With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the
	8310	corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply
	8311	from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his
	8312	heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand.
	8313
	8314	It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a
	8315	dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant
	8316	beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar.
	8317	Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott
	8318	clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding
	8319	beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers.
	8320	Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we
	8321	had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his
	8322	eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the
	8323	ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with
	8324	brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his
	8325	head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.
	8326
	8327	"The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes.
	8328
	8329	I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began
	8330	to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat
	8331	diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.
	8332
	8333	"It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in
	8334	India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence
	8335	does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls
	8336	into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this
	8337	creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to
	8338	some place of shelter and let the county police know what has
	8339	happened."
	8340
	8341	As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,
	8342	and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from
	8343	its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into
	8344	the iron safe, which he closed upon it.
	8345
	8346	Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of
	8347	Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a
	8348	narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling
	8349	how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed
	8350	her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow,
	8351	of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the
	8352	conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly
	8353	playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn
	8354	of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back
	8355	next day.
	8356
	8357	"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which
	8358	shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from
	8359	insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of
	8360	the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to
	8361	explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of
	8362	by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an
	8363	entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly
	8364	reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me
	8365	that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not
	8366	come either from the window or the door. My attention was
	8367	speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this
	8368	ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The
	8369	discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to
	8370	the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was
	8371	there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and
	8372	coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me,
	8373	and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was
	8374	furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I
	8375	was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of
	8376	poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical
	8377	test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless
	8378	man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such
	8379	a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be
	8380	an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could
	8381	distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where
	8382	the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the
	8383	whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning
	8384	light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by
	8385	the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned.
	8386	He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he
	8387	thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the
	8388	rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the
	8389	occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but
	8390	sooner or later she must fall a victim.
	8391
	8392	"I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his
	8393	room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in
	8394	the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary
	8395	in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the
	8396	safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to
	8397	finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic
	8398	clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather
	8399	hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant.
	8400	Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in
	8401	order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss
	8402	as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the
	8403	light and attacked it."
	8404
	8405	"With the result of driving it through the ventilator."
	8406
	8407	"And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master
	8408	at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and
	8409	roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person
	8410	it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr.
	8411	Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to
	8412	weigh very heavily upon my conscience."
	8413
	8414
	8415
	8416	IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
	8417
	8418	Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
	8419	Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,
	8420	there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his
	8421	notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel
	8422	Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a
	8423	finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was
	8424	so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that
	8425	it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it
	8426	gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of
	8427	reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story
	8428	has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but,
	8429	like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when
	8430	set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the
	8431	facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears
	8432	gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads
	8433	on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a
	8434	deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly
	8435	served to weaken the effect.
	8436
	8437	It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
	8438	events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned
	8439	to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker
	8440	Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally
	8441	even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come
	8442	and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I
	8443	happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington
	8444	Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of
	8445	these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was
	8446	never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send
	8447	me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence.
	8448
	8449	One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by
	8450	the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come
	8451	from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I
	8452	dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases
	8453	were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my
	8454	old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door
	8455	tightly behind him.
	8456
	8457	"I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
	8458	shoulder; "he's all right."
	8459
	8460	"What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was
	8461	some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.
	8462
	8463	"It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him
	8464	round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe
	8465	and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the
	8466	same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even
	8467	giving me time to thank him.
	8468
	8469	I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the
	8470	table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a
	8471	soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of
	8472	his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all
	8473	over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than
	8474	five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but
	8475	he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who
	8476	was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his
	8477	strength of mind to control.
	8478
	8479	"I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I
	8480	have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by
	8481	train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I
	8482	might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me
	8483	here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon
	8484	the side-table."
	8485
	8486	I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
	8487	engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name,
	8488	style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have
	8489	kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You
	8490	are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself
	8491	a monotonous occupation."
	8492
	8493	"Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and
	8494	laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note,
	8495	leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical
	8496	instincts rose up against that laugh.
	8497
	8498	"Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out
	8499	some water from a caraffe.
	8500
	8501	It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical
	8502	outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis
	8503	is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very
	8504	weary and pale-looking.
	8505
	8506	"I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped.
	8507
	8508	"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water,
	8509	and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.
	8510
	8511	"That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would
	8512	kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb
	8513	used to be."
	8514
	8515	He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even
	8516	my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four
	8517	protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the
	8518	thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from
	8519	the roots.
	8520
	8521	"Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have
	8522	bled considerably."
	8523
	8524	"Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
	8525	have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that
	8526	it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very
	8527	tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig."
	8528
	8529	"Excellent! You should have been a surgeon."
	8530
	8531	"It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
	8532	province."
	8533
	8534	"This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very
	8535	heavy and sharp instrument."
	8536
	8537	"A thing like a cleaver," said he.
	8538
	8539	"An accident, I presume?"
	8540
	8541	"By no means."
	8542
	8543	"What! a murderous attack?"
	8544
	8545	"Very murderous indeed."
	8546
	8547	"You horrify me."
	8548
	8549	I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered
	8550	it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back
	8551	without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.
	8552
	8553	"How is that?" I asked when I had finished.
	8554
	8555	"Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.
	8556	I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through."
	8557
	8558	"Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
	8559	trying to your nerves."
	8560
	8561	"Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police;
	8562	but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing
	8563	evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they
	8564	believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I
	8565	have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and,
	8566	even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so
	8567	vague that it is a question whether justice will be done."
	8568
	8569	"Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem
	8570	which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you
	8571	to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the
	8572	official police."
	8573
	8574	"Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I
	8575	should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of
	8576	course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me
	8577	an introduction to him?"
	8578
	8579	"I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself."
	8580
	8581	"I should be immensely obliged to you."
	8582
	8583	"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to
	8584	have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?"
	8585
	8586	"Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story."
	8587
	8588	"Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
	8589	instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my
	8590	wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my
	8591	new acquaintance to Baker Street.
	8592
	8593	Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his
	8594	sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The
	8595	Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed
	8596	of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day
	8597	before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the
	8598	mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion,
	8599	ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal.
	8600	When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the
	8601	sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of
	8602	brandy and water within his reach.
	8603
	8604	"It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one,
	8605	Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself
	8606	absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are
	8607	tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant."
	8608
	8609	"Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since
	8610	the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has
	8611	completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable
	8612	time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar
	8613	experiences."
	8614
	8615	Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded
	8616	expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat
	8617	opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story
	8618	which our visitor detailed to us.
	8619
	8620	"You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
	8621	residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a
	8622	hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my
	8623	work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner &
	8624	Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago,
	8625	having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of
	8626	money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in
	8627	business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria
	8628	Street.
	8629
	8630	"I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
	8631	business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
	8632	During two years I have had three consultations and one small
	8633	job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought
	8634	me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from
	8635	nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my
	8636	little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to
	8637	believe that I should never have any practice at all.
	8638
	8639	"Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the
	8640	office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who
	8641	wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with
	8642	the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at
	8643	his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle
	8644	size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have
	8645	ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose
	8646	and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over
	8647	his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his
	8648	natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his
	8649	step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly
	8650	dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than
	8651	thirty.
	8652
	8653	"'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent.
	8654	'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man
	8655	who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet
	8656	and capable of preserving a secret.'
	8657
	8658	"I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an
	8659	address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'
	8660
	8661	"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just
	8662	at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both
	8663	an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'
	8664
	8665	"'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if
	8666	I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
	8667	qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter
	8668	that you wished to speak to me?'
	8669
	8670	"'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to
	8671	the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute
	8672	secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and
	8673	of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than
	8674	from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'
	8675
	8676	"'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely
	8677	depend upon my doing so.'
	8678
	8679	"He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I
	8680	had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.
	8681
	8682	"'Do you promise, then?' said he at last.
	8683
	8684	"'Yes, I promise.'
	8685
	8686	"'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
	8687	reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'
	8688
	8689	"'I have already given you my word.'
	8690
	8691	"'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
	8692	across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was
	8693	empty.
	8694
	8695	"'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are
	8696	sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk
	8697	in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to
	8698	stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.
	8699
	8700	"A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun
	8701	to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man.
	8702	Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from
	8703	showing my impatience.
	8704
	8705	"'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time
	8706	is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the
	8707	words came to my lips.
	8708
	8709	"'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.
	8710
	8711	"'Most admirably.'
	8712
	8713	"'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I
	8714	simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which
	8715	has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon
	8716	set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as
	8717	that?'
	8718
	8719	"'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'
	8720
	8721	"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
	8722	train.'
	8723
	8724	"'Where to?'
	8725
	8726	"'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders
	8727	of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a
	8728	train from Paddington which would bring you there at about
	8729	11:15.'
	8730
	8731	"'Very good.'
	8732
	8733	"'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'
	8734
	8735	"'There is a drive, then?'
	8736
	8737	"'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
	8738	seven miles from Eyford Station.'
	8739
	8740	"'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there
	8741	would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop
	8742	the night.'
	8743
	8744	"'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'
	8745
	8746	"'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
	8747	hour?'
	8748
	8749	"'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to
	8750	recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a
	8751	young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the
	8752	very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would
	8753	like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do
	8754	so.'
	8755
	8756	"I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they
	8757	would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to
	8758	accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to
	8759	understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to
	8760	do.'
	8761
	8762	"'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which
	8763	we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I
	8764	have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all
	8765	laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from
	8766	eavesdroppers?'
	8767
	8768	"'Entirely.'
	8769
	8770	"'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that
	8771	fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found
	8772	in one or two places in England?'
	8773
	8774	"'I have heard so.'
	8775
	8776	"'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small
	8777	place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to
	8778	discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my
	8779	fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a
	8780	comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two
	8781	very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them,
	8782	however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were
	8783	absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was
	8784	quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my
	8785	interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value,
	8786	but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I
	8787	took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they
	8788	suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little
	8789	deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would
	8790	enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been
	8791	doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we
	8792	erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already
	8793	explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the
	8794	subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it
	8795	once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our
	8796	little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts
	8797	came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these
	8798	fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you
	8799	promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are
	8800	going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?'
	8801
	8802	"'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not
	8803	quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press
	8804	in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out
	8805	like gravel from a pit.'
	8806
	8807	"'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress
	8808	the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing
	8809	what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully
	8810	into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I
	8811	trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at
	8812	Eyford at 11:15.'
	8813
	8814	"'I shall certainly be there.'
	8815
	8816	"'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,
	8817	questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank
	8818	grasp, he hurried from the room.
	8819
	8820	"Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very
	8821	much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission
	8822	which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was
	8823	glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked
	8824	had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that
	8825	this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face
	8826	and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon
	8827	me, and I could not think that his explanation of the
	8828	fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my
	8829	coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell
	8830	anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate
	8831	a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having
	8832	obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue.
	8833
	8834	"At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
	8835	However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I
	8836	reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the
	8837	only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the
	8838	platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed
	8839	out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of
	8840	the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a
	8841	word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door
	8842	of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either
	8843	side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the
	8844	horse could go."
	8845
	8846	"One horse?" interjected Holmes.
	8847
	8848	"Yes, only one."
	8849
	8850	"Did you observe the colour?"
	8851
	8852	"Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
	8853	carriage. It was a chestnut."
	8854
	8855	"Tired-looking or fresh?"
	8856
	8857	"Oh, fresh and glossy."
	8858
	8859	"Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue
	8860	your most interesting statement."
	8861
	8862	"Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
	8863	Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I
	8864	should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the
	8865	time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat
	8866	at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than
	8867	once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me
	8868	with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good
	8869	in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I
	8870	tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we
	8871	were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out
	8872	nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now
	8873	and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the
	8874	journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the
	8875	conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the
	8876	road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive,
	8877	and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang
	8878	out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch
	8879	which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of
	8880	the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the
	8881	most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that
	8882	I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us,
	8883	and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage
	8884	drove away.
	8885
	8886	"It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled
	8887	about looking for matches and muttering under his breath.
	8888	Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a
	8889	long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew
	8890	broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she
	8891	held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us.
	8892	I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which
	8893	the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich
	8894	material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as
	8895	though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a
	8896	gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly
	8897	fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered
	8898	something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room
	8899	from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the
	8900	lamp in his hand.
	8901
	8902	"'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a
	8903	few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a
	8904	quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the
	8905	centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel
	8906	Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the
	8907	door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and
	8908	vanished into the darkness.
	8909
	8910	"I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my
	8911	ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises
	8912	on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked
	8913	across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of
	8914	the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded
	8915	across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old
	8916	clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise
	8917	everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began
	8918	to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were
	8919	they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And
	8920	where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was
	8921	all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no
	8922	idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns,
	8923	were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded,
	8924	after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness,
	8925	that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room,
	8926	humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling
	8927	that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee.
	8928
	8929	"Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the
	8930	utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman
	8931	was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind
	8932	her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and
	8933	beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with
	8934	fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one
	8935	shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few
	8936	whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back,
	8937	like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her.
	8938
	8939	"'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to
	8940	speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no
	8941	good for you to do.'
	8942
	8943	"'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I
	8944	cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'
	8945
	8946	"'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass
	8947	through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled
	8948	and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and
	8949	made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love
	8950	of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too
	8951	late!'
	8952
	8953	"But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to
	8954	engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I
	8955	thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of
	8956	the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to
	8957	go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried
	8958	out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This
	8959	woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout
	8960	bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I
	8961	cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention
	8962	of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties
	8963	when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps
	8964	was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up
	8965	her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and
	8966	as noiselessly as she had come.
	8967
	8968	"The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man
	8969	with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double
	8970	chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson.
	8971
	8972	"'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the
	8973	way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just
	8974	now. I fear that you have felt the draught.'
	8975
	8976	"'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I
	8977	felt the room to be a little close.'
	8978
	8979	"He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had
	8980	better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I
	8981	will take you up to see the machine.'
	8982
	8983	"'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'
	8984
	8985	"'Oh, no, it is in the house.'
	8986
	8987	"'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'
	8988
	8989	"'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.
	8990	All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us
	8991	know what is wrong with it.'
	8992
	8993	"We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the
	8994	fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house,
	8995	with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little
	8996	low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the
	8997	generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no
	8998	signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster
	8999	was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in
	9000	green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an
	9001	air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the
	9002	lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon
	9003	my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent
	9004	man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at
	9005	least a fellow-countryman.
	9006
	9007	"Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which
	9008	he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three
	9009	of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside,
	9010	and the colonel ushered me in.
	9011
	9012	"'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and
	9013	it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were
	9014	to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the
	9015	end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of
	9016	many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns
	9017	of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and
	9018	multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine
	9019	goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working
	9020	of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will
	9021	have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set
	9022	it right.'
	9023
	9024	"I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very
	9025	thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of
	9026	exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and
	9027	pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by
	9028	the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed
	9029	a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An
	9030	examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was
	9031	round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to
	9032	fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause
	9033	of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who
	9034	followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical
	9035	questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I
	9036	had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the
	9037	machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.
	9038	It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth
	9039	was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose
	9040	that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a
	9041	purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a
	9042	large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a
	9043	crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was
	9044	scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a
	9045	muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the
	9046	colonel looking down at me.
	9047
	9048	"'What are you doing there?' he asked.
	9049
	9050	"I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as
	9051	that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,'
	9052	said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to
	9053	your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it
	9054	was used.'
	9055
	9056	"The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of
	9057	my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in
	9058	his grey eyes.
	9059
	9060	"'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He
	9061	took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key
	9062	in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it
	9063	was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and
	9064	shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!'
	9065
	9066	"And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my
	9067	heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish
	9068	of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp
	9069	still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining
	9070	the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming
	9071	down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than
	9072	myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a
	9073	shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and
	9074	dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let
	9075	me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my
	9076	cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with
	9077	my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it
	9078	flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend
	9079	very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my
	9080	face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to
	9081	think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and
	9082	yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black
	9083	shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand
	9084	erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope
	9085	back to my heart.
	9086
	9087	"I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
	9088	walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw
	9089	a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which
	9090	broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For
	9091	an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door
	9092	which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself
	9093	through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had
	9094	closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few
	9095	moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me
	9096	how narrow had been my escape.
	9097
	9098	"I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and
	9099	I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor,
	9100	while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand,
	9101	while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend
	9102	whose warning I had so foolishly rejected.
	9103
	9104	"'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a
	9105	moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste
	9106	the so-precious time, but come!'
	9107
	9108	"This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to
	9109	my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding
	9110	stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we
	9111	reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of
	9112	two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we
	9113	were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about
	9114	her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door
	9115	which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon
	9116	was shining brightly.
	9117
	9118	"'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be
	9119	that you can jump it.'
	9120
	9121	"As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
	9122	passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark
	9123	rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a
	9124	butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom,
	9125	flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and
	9126	wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be
	9127	more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I
	9128	hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between
	9129	my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used,
	9130	then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance.
	9131	The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at
	9132	the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round
	9133	him and tried to hold him back.
	9134
	9135	"'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise
	9136	after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be
	9137	silent! Oh, he will be silent!'
	9138
	9139	"'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from
	9140	her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me
	9141	pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the
	9142	window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and
	9143	was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was
	9144	conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the
	9145	garden below.
	9146
	9147	"I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and
	9148	rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I
	9149	understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly,
	9150	however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me.
	9151	I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and
	9152	then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and
	9153	that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my
	9154	handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my
	9155	ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the
	9156	rose-bushes.
	9157
	9158	"How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been
	9159	a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
	9160	breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with
	9161	dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded
	9162	thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the
	9163	particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with
	9164	the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But
	9165	to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house
	9166	nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the
	9167	hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a
	9168	long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the
	9169	very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were
	9170	it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed
	9171	during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
	9172
	9173	"Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
	9174	train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The
	9175	same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I
	9176	arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel
	9177	Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a
	9178	carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was
	9179	there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three
	9180	miles off.
	9181
	9182	"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined
	9183	to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the
	9184	police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first
	9185	to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to
	9186	bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do
	9187	exactly what you advise."
	9188
	9189	We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to
	9190	this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down
	9191	from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he
	9192	placed his cuttings.
	9193
	9194	"Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It
	9195	appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
	9196	'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged
	9197	twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten
	9198	o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was
	9199	dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that
	9200	the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy."
	9201
	9202	"Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the
	9203	girl said."
	9204
	9205	"Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
	9206	desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should
	9207	stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out
	9208	pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well,
	9209	every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall
	9210	go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for
	9211	Eyford."
	9212
	9213	Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train
	9214	together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village.
	9215	There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector
	9216	Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself.
	9217	Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the
	9218	seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford
	9219	for its centre.
	9220
	9221	"There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of
	9222	ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere
	9223	near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir."
	9224
	9225	"It was an hour's good drive."
	9226
	9227	"And you think that they brought you back all that way when you
	9228	were unconscious?"
	9229
	9230	"They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
	9231	been lifted and conveyed somewhere."
	9232
	9233	"What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have
	9234	spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden.
	9235	Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties."
	9236
	9237	"I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face
	9238	in my life."
	9239
	9240	"Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I
	9241	have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon
	9242	it the folk that we are in search of are to be found."
	9243
	9244	"I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly.
	9245
	9246	"Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your
	9247	opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is
	9248	south, for the country is more deserted there."
	9249
	9250	"And I say east," said my patient.
	9251
	9252	"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are
	9253	several quiet little villages up there."
	9254
	9255	"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there,
	9256	and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up
	9257	any."
	9258
	9259	"Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty
	9260	diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do
	9261	you give your casting vote to?"
	9262
	9263	"You are all wrong."
	9264
	9265	"But we can't all be."
	9266
	9267	"Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the
	9268	centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them."
	9269
	9270	"But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley.
	9271
	9272	"Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the
	9273	horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that
	9274	if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?"
	9275
	9276	"Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet
	9277	thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature
	9278	of this gang."
	9279
	9280	"None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale,
	9281	and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the
	9282	place of silver."
	9283
	9284	"We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,"
	9285	said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by
	9286	the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could
	9287	get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that
	9288	showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this
	9289	lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."
	9290
	9291	But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not
	9292	destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into
	9293	Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed
	9294	up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and
	9295	hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape.
	9296
	9297	"A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off
	9298	again on its way.
	9299
	9300	"Yes, sir!" said the station-master.
	9301
	9302	"When did it break out?"
	9303
	9304	"I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse,
	9305	and the whole place is in a blaze."
	9306
	9307	"Whose house is it?"
	9308
	9309	"Dr. Becher's."
	9310
	9311	"Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very
	9312	thin, with a long, sharp nose?"
	9313
	9314	The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an
	9315	Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a
	9316	better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him,
	9317	a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as
	9318	if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm."
	9319
	9320	The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
	9321	hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low
	9322	hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in
	9323	front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in
	9324	the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to
	9325	keep the flames under.
	9326
	9327	"That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is
	9328	the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That
	9329	second window is the one that I jumped from."
	9330
	9331	"Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon
	9332	them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which,
	9333	when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls,
	9334	though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to
	9335	observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for
	9336	your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are
	9337	a good hundred miles off by now."
	9338
	9339	And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this
	9340	no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the
	9341	sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a
	9342	peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very
	9343	bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but
	9344	there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes'
	9345	ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their
	9346	whereabouts.
	9347
	9348	The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements
	9349	which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a
	9350	newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor.
	9351	About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and
	9352	they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in,
	9353	and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save
	9354	some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of
	9355	the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so
	9356	dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored
	9357	in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have
	9358	explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been
	9359	already referred to.
	9360
	9361	How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to
	9362	the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained
	9363	forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a
	9364	very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two
	9365	persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other
	9366	unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the
	9367	silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his
	9368	companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out
	9369	of the way of danger.
	9370
	9371	"Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
	9372	once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I
	9373	have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what
	9374	have I gained?"
	9375
	9376	"Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of
	9377	value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the
	9378	reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your
	9379	existence."
	9380
	9381
	9382
	9383	X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR
	9384
	9385	The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have
	9386	long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles
	9387	in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have
	9388	eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the
	9389	gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to
	9390	believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to
	9391	the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a
	9392	considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no
	9393	memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of
	9394	this remarkable episode.
	9395
	9396	It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I
	9397	was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came
	9398	home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table
	9399	waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather
	9400	had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and
	9401	the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as
	9402	a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence.
	9403	With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had
	9404	surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last,
	9405	saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and
	9406	lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the
	9407	envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's
	9408	noble correspondent could be.
	9409
	9410	"Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered.
	9411	"Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a
	9412	fish-monger and a tide-waiter."
	9413
	9414	"Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he
	9415	answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more
	9416	interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social
	9417	summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
	9418
	9419	He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.
	9420
	9421	"Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."
	9422
	9423	"Not social, then?"
	9424
	9425	"No, distinctly professional."
	9426
	9427	"And from a noble client?"
	9428
	9429	"One of the highest in England."
	9430
	9431	"My dear fellow, I congratulate you."
	9432
	9433	"I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my
	9434	client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his
	9435	case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be
	9436	wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the
	9437	papers diligently of late, have you not?"
	9438
	9439	"It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in
	9440	the corner. "I have had nothing else to do."
	9441
	9442	"It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I
	9443	read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The
	9444	latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent
	9445	events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his
	9446	wedding?"
	9447
	9448	"Oh, yes, with the deepest interest."
	9449
	9450	"That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord
	9451	St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn
	9452	over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter.
	9453	This is what he says:
	9454
	9455	"'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I
	9456	may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I
	9457	have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you
	9458	in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in
	9459	connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is
	9460	acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no
	9461	objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that
	9462	it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in
	9463	the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that
	9464	time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of
	9465	paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.'
	9466
	9467	"It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen,
	9468	and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink
	9469	upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes
	9470	as he folded up the epistle.
	9471
	9472	"He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an
	9473	hour."
	9474
	9475	"Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon
	9476	the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in
	9477	their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client
	9478	is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of
	9479	reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting
	9480	down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham
	9481	de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms:
	9482	Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.'
	9483	He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was
	9484	Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The
	9485	Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
	9486	They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on
	9487	the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in
	9488	all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something
	9489	more solid."
	9490
	9491	"I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I,
	9492	"for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as
	9493	remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew
	9494	that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the
	9495	intrusion of other matters."
	9496
	9497	"Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square
	9498	furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it
	9499	was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your
	9500	newspaper selections."
	9501
	9502	"Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal
	9503	column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks
	9504	back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if
	9505	rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert
	9506	St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty
	9507	Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San
	9508	Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all."
	9509
	9510	"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long,
	9511	thin legs towards the fire.
	9512
	9513	"There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society
	9514	papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a
	9515	call for protection in the marriage market, for the present
	9516	free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home
	9517	product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great
	9518	Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across
	9519	the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last
	9520	week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by
	9521	these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself
	9522	for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has
	9523	now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty
	9524	Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss
	9525	Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much
	9526	attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child,
	9527	and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to
	9528	considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the
	9529	future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has
	9530	been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years,
	9531	and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small
	9532	estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress
	9533	is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to
	9534	make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a
	9535	British peeress.'"
	9536
	9537	"Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.
	9538
	9539	"Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post
	9540	to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it
	9541	would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen
	9542	intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would
	9543	return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been
	9544	taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on
	9545	Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had
	9546	taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord
	9547	Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices
	9548	which appeared before the disappearance of the bride."
	9549
	9550	"Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start.
	9551
	9552	"The vanishing of the lady."
	9553
	9554	"When did she vanish, then?"
	9555
	9556	"At the wedding breakfast."
	9557
	9558	"Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite
	9559	dramatic, in fact."
	9560
	9561	"Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common."
	9562
	9563	"They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during
	9564	the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt
	9565	as this. Pray let me have the details."
	9566
	9567	"I warn you that they are very incomplete."
	9568
	9569	"Perhaps we may make them less so."
	9570
	9571	"Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a
	9572	morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is
	9573	headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':
	9574
	9575	"'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the
	9576	greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which
	9577	have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as
	9578	shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the
	9579	previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to
	9580	confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently
	9581	floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush
	9582	the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it
	9583	that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what
	9584	is a common subject for conversation.
	9585
	9586	"'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover
	9587	Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the
	9588	father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral,
	9589	Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the
	9590	younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia
	9591	Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of
	9592	Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been
	9593	prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a
	9594	woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to
	9595	force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging
	9596	that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a
	9597	painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler
	9598	and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house
	9599	before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast
	9600	with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and
	9601	retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some
	9602	comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that
	9603	she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an
	9604	ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the
	9605	footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus
	9606	apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress,
	9607	believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his
	9608	daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with
	9609	the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with
	9610	the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which
	9611	will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very
	9612	singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing
	9613	had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There
	9614	are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the
	9615	police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the
	9616	original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some
	9617	other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange
	9618	disappearance of the bride.'"
	9619
	9620	"And is that all?"
	9621
	9622	"Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is
	9623	a suggestive one."
	9624
	9625	"And it is--"
	9626
	9627	"That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance,
	9628	has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a
	9629	danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom
	9630	for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole
	9631	case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the
	9632	public press."
	9633
	9634	"And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would
	9635	not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell,
	9636	Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I
	9637	have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not
	9638	dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness,
	9639	if only as a check to my own memory."
	9640
	9641	"Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open
	9642	the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face,
	9643	high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about
	9644	the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose
	9645	pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His
	9646	manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue
	9647	impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little
	9648	bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off
	9649	his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin
	9650	upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of
	9651	foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat,
	9652	yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters.
	9653	He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to
	9654	right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his
	9655	golden eyeglasses.
	9656
	9657	"Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray
	9658	take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr.
	9659	Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this
	9660	matter over."
	9661
	9662	"A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine,
	9663	Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you
	9664	have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir,
	9665	though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of
	9666	society."
	9667
	9668	"No, I am descending."
	9669
	9670	"I beg pardon."
	9671
	9672	"My last client of the sort was a king."
	9673
	9674	"Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?"
	9675
	9676	"The King of Scandinavia."
	9677
	9678	"What! Had he lost his wife?"
	9679
	9680	"You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the
	9681	affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to
	9682	you in yours."
	9683
	9684	"Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to
	9685	my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may
	9686	assist you in forming an opinion."
	9687
	9688	"Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public
	9689	prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this
	9690	article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride."
	9691
	9692	Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it
	9693	goes."
	9694
	9695	"But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could
	9696	offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most
	9697	directly by questioning you."
	9698
	9699	"Pray do so."
	9700
	9701	"When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?"
	9702
	9703	"In San Francisco, a year ago."
	9704
	9705	"You were travelling in the States?"
	9706
	9707	"Yes."
	9708
	9709	"Did you become engaged then?"
	9710
	9711	"No."
	9712
	9713	"But you were on a friendly footing?"
	9714
	9715	"I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was
	9716	amused."
	9717
	9718	"Her father is very rich?"
	9719
	9720	"He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope."
	9721
	9722	"And how did he make his money?"
	9723
	9724	"In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,
	9725	invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds."
	9726
	9727	"Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your
	9728	wife's character?"
	9729
	9730	The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down
	9731	into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was
	9732	twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she
	9733	ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or
	9734	mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than
	9735	from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy,
	9736	with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of
	9737	traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She
	9738	is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her
	9739	resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the
	9740	name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately
	9741	cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I
	9742	believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that
	9743	anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her."
	9744
	9745	"Have you her photograph?"
	9746
	9747	"I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the
	9748	full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an
	9749	ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect
	9750	of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the
	9751	exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he
	9752	closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon.
	9753
	9754	"The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your
	9755	acquaintance?"
	9756
	9757	"Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I
	9758	met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now
	9759	married her."
	9760
	9761	"She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?"
	9762
	9763	"A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family."
	9764
	9765	"And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a
	9766	fait accompli?"
	9767
	9768	"I really have made no inquiries on the subject."
	9769
	9770	"Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the
	9771	wedding?"
	9772
	9773	"Yes."
	9774
	9775	"Was she in good spirits?"
	9776
	9777	"Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our
	9778	future lives."
	9779
	9780	"Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the
	9781	wedding?"
	9782
	9783	"She was as bright as possible--at least until after the
	9784	ceremony."
	9785
	9786	"And did you observe any change in her then?"
	9787
	9788	"Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had
	9789	ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident
	9790	however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible
	9791	bearing upon the case."
	9792
	9793	"Pray let us have it, for all that."
	9794
	9795	"Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards
	9796	the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it
	9797	fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the
	9798	gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not
	9799	appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of
	9800	the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our
	9801	way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause."
	9802
	9803	"Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of
	9804	the general public were present, then?"
	9805
	9806	"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is
	9807	open."
	9808
	9809	"This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
	9810
	9811	"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a
	9812	common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But
	9813	really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
	9814
	9815	"Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less
	9816	cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do
	9817	on re-entering her father's house?"
	9818
	9819	"I saw her in conversation with her maid."
	9820
	9821	"And who is her maid?"
	9822
	9823	"Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California
	9824	with her."
	9825
	9826	"A confidential servant?"
	9827
	9828	"A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed
	9829	her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they
	9830	look upon these things in a different way."
	9831
	9832	"How long did she speak to this Alice?"
	9833
	9834	"Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
	9835
	9836	"You did not overhear what they said?"
	9837
	9838	"Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was
	9839	accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she
	9840	meant."
	9841
	9842	"American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your
	9843	wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
	9844
	9845	"She walked into the breakfast-room."
	9846
	9847	"On your arm?"
	9848
	9849	"No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.
	9850	Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose
	9851	hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She
	9852	never came back."
	9853
	9854	"But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to
	9855	her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a
	9856	bonnet, and went out."
	9857
	9858	"Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in
	9859	company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who
	9860	had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that
	9861	morning."
	9862
	9863	"Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady,
	9864	and your relations to her."
	9865
	9866	Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows.
	9867	"We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on
	9868	a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have
	9869	not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of
	9870	complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes.
	9871	Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and
	9872	devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she
	9873	heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the
	9874	reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I
	9875	feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to
	9876	Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to
	9877	push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my
	9878	wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the
	9879	possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police
	9880	fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again.
	9881	She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a
	9882	row."
	9883
	9884	"Did your wife hear all this?"
	9885
	9886	"No, thank goodness, she did not."
	9887
	9888	"And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?"
	9889
	9890	"Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as
	9891	so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid
	9892	some terrible trap for her."
	9893
	9894	"Well, it is a possible supposition."
	9895
	9896	"You think so, too?"
	9897
	9898	"I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon
	9899	this as likely?"
	9900
	9901	"I do not think Flora would hurt a fly."
	9902
	9903	"Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray
	9904	what is your own theory as to what took place?"
	9905
	9906	"Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I
	9907	have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may
	9908	say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of
	9909	this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a
	9910	social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous
	9911	disturbance in my wife."
	9912
	9913	"In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?"
	9914
	9915	"Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I
	9916	will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to
	9917	without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion."
	9918
	9919	"Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said
	9920	Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have
	9921	nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the
	9922	breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?"
	9923
	9924	"We could see the other side of the road and the Park."
	9925
	9926	"Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer.
	9927	I shall communicate with you."
	9928
	9929	"Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our
	9930	client, rising.
	9931
	9932	"I have solved it."
	9933
	9934	"Eh? What was that?"
	9935
	9936	"I say that I have solved it."
	9937
	9938	"Where, then, is my wife?"
	9939
	9940	"That is a detail which I shall speedily supply."
	9941
	9942	Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take
	9943	wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a
	9944	stately, old-fashioned manner he departed.
	9945
	9946	"It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting
	9947	it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I
	9948	think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all
	9949	this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the
	9950	case before our client came into the room."
	9951
	9952	"My dear Holmes!"
	9953
	9954	"I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I
	9955	remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination
	9956	served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial
	9957	evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a
	9958	trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example."
	9959
	9960	"But I have heard all that you have heard."
	9961
	9962	"Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which
	9963	serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some
	9964	years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich
	9965	the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these
	9966	cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade!
	9967	You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are
	9968	cigars in the box."
	9969
	9970	The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat,
	9971	which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a
	9972	black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated
	9973	himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him.
	9974
	9975	"What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You
	9976	look dissatisfied."
	9977
	9978	"And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage
	9979	case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."
	9980
	9981	"Really! You surprise me."
	9982
	9983	"Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip
	9984	through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day."
	9985
	9986	"And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his
	9987	hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket.
	9988
	9989	"Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine."
	9990
	9991	"In heaven's name, what for?"
	9992
	9993	"In search of the body of Lady St. Simon."
	9994
	9995	Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
	9996
	9997	"Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he
	9998	asked.
	9999
	10000	"Why? What do you mean?"
	10001
	10002	"Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in
	10003	the one as in the other."
	10004
	10005	Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you
	10006	know all about it," he snarled.
	10007
	10008	"Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up."
	10009
	10010	"Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in
	10011	the matter?"
	10012
	10013	"I think it very unlikely."
	10014
	10015	"Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found
	10016	this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the
	10017	floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin
	10018	shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked
	10019	in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the
	10020	top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master
	10021	Holmes."
	10022
	10023	"Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air.
	10024	"You dragged them from the Serpentine?"
	10025
	10026	"No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper.
	10027	They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me
	10028	that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off."
	10029
	10030	"By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found
	10031	in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope
	10032	to arrive at through this?"
	10033
	10034	"At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance."
	10035
	10036	"I am afraid that you will find it difficult."
	10037
	10038	"Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I
	10039	am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your
	10040	deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as
	10041	many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar."
	10042
	10043	"And how?"
	10044
	10045	"In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the
	10046	card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it
	10047	down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will
	10048	see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all
	10049	along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora
	10050	Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was
	10051	responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her
	10052	initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped
	10053	into her hand at the door and which lured her within their
	10054	reach."
	10055
	10056	"Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are
	10057	very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a
	10058	listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he
	10059	gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important,"
	10060	said he.
	10061
	10062	"Ha! you find it so?"
	10063
	10064	"Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly."
	10065
	10066	Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he
	10067	shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!"
	10068
	10069	"On the contrary, this is the right side."
	10070
	10071	"The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil
	10072	over here."
	10073
	10074	"And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel
	10075	bill, which interests me deeply."
	10076
	10077	"There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade.
	10078	"'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s.
	10079	6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that."
	10080
	10081	"Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the
	10082	note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I
	10083	congratulate you again."
	10084
	10085	"I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in
	10086	hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories.
	10087	Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom
	10088	of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them
	10089	into the bag, and made for the door.
	10090
	10091	"Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival
	10092	vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady
	10093	St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any
	10094	such person."
	10095
	10096	Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me,
	10097	tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and
	10098	hurried away.
	10099
	10100	He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on
	10101	his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about
	10102	outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must
	10103	leave you to your papers for a little."
	10104
	10105	It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had
	10106	no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a
	10107	confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked
	10108	with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and
	10109	presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean
	10110	little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble
	10111	lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold
	10112	woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of
	10113	ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries,
	10114	my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian
	10115	Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid
	10116	for and were ordered to this address.
	10117
	10118	Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the
	10119	room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his
	10120	eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his
	10121	conclusions.
	10122
	10123	"They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands.
	10124
	10125	"You seem to expect company. They have laid for five."
	10126
	10127	"Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I
	10128	am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I
	10129	fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs."
	10130
	10131	It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in,
	10132	dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very
	10133	perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features.
	10134
	10135	"My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes.
	10136
	10137	"Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure.
	10138	Have you good authority for what you say?"
	10139
	10140	"The best possible."
	10141
	10142	Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his
	10143	forehead.
	10144
	10145	"What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of
	10146	the family has been subjected to such humiliation?"
	10147
	10148	"It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any
	10149	humiliation."
	10150
	10151	"Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint."
	10152
	10153	"I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the
	10154	lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of
	10155	doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she
	10156	had no one to advise her at such a crisis."
	10157
	10158	"It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon,
	10159	tapping his fingers upon the table.
	10160
	10161	"You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so
	10162	unprecedented a position."
	10163
	10164	"I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have
	10165	been shamefully used."
	10166
	10167	"I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps
	10168	on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view
	10169	of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here
	10170	who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a
	10171	lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to
	10172	introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I
	10173	think, you have already met."
	10174
	10175	At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his
	10176	seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand
	10177	thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended
	10178	dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out
	10179	her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was
	10180	as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was
	10181	one which it was hard to resist.
	10182
	10183	"You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every
	10184	cause to be."
	10185
	10186	"Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly.
	10187
	10188	"Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I
	10189	should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of
	10190	rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just
	10191	didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't
	10192	fall down and do a faint right there before the altar."
	10193
	10194	"Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave
	10195	the room while you explain this matter?"
	10196
	10197	"If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman,
	10198	"we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business
	10199	already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to
	10200	hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man,
	10201	clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner.
	10202
	10203	"Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here
	10204	and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa
	10205	was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I;
	10206	but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile,
	10207	while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to
	10208	nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa
	10209	wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took
	10210	me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so
	10211	he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything
	10212	about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just
	10213	fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and
	10214	make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had
	10215	as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of
	10216	time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived.
	10217	'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and
	10218	then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your
	10219	husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had
	10220	fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting,
	10221	that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek
	10222	his fortune, and I went back to pa.
	10223
	10224	"The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then
	10225	he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New
	10226	Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a
	10227	miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was
	10228	my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was
	10229	very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took
	10230	me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a
	10231	year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really
	10232	dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London,
	10233	and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt
	10234	all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place
	10235	in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.
	10236
	10237	"Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done
	10238	my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our
	10239	actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make
	10240	him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may
	10241	imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I
	10242	glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the
	10243	first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked
	10244	again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as
	10245	if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I
	10246	didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the
	10247	words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my
	10248	ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make
	10249	a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to
	10250	know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to
	10251	tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper,
	10252	and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on
	10253	the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the
	10254	note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a
	10255	line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so.
	10256	Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now
	10257	to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.
	10258
	10259	"When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California,
	10260	and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but
	10261	to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to
	10262	have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before
	10263	his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to
	10264	run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten
	10265	minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of
	10266	the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park.
	10267	I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman
	10268	came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to
	10269	me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little
	10270	secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away
	10271	from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and
	10272	away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and
	10273	that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank
	10274	had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to
	10275	'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to
	10276	England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the
	10277	very morning of my second wedding."
	10278
	10279	"I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name
	10280	and the church but not where the lady lived."
	10281
	10282	"Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all
	10283	for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I
	10284	should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just
	10285	sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It
	10286	was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting
	10287	round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So
	10288	Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of
	10289	them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away
	10290	somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we
	10291	should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good
	10292	gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how
	10293	he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very
	10294	clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and
	10295	that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so
	10296	secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord
	10297	St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at
	10298	once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if
	10299	I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very
	10300	meanly of me."
	10301
	10302	Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but
	10303	had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this
	10304	long narrative.
	10305
	10306	"Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most
	10307	intimate personal affairs in this public manner."
	10308
	10309	"Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?"
	10310
	10311	"Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out
	10312	his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.
	10313
	10314	"I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us
	10315	in a friendly supper."
	10316
	10317	"I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his
	10318	Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent
	10319	developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over
	10320	them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a
	10321	very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and
	10322	stalked out of the room.
	10323
	10324	"Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your
	10325	company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an
	10326	American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the
	10327	folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone
	10328	years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens
	10329	of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a
	10330	quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes."
	10331
	10332	"The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our
	10333	visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how
	10334	simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight
	10335	seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural
	10336	than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing
	10337	stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr.
	10338	Lestrade of Scotland Yard."
	10339
	10340	"You were not yourself at fault at all, then?"
	10341
	10342	"From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that
	10343	the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony,
	10344	the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of
	10345	returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the
	10346	morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that
	10347	something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was
	10348	out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she
	10349	seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America
	10350	because she had spent so short a time in this country that she
	10351	could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence
	10352	over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change
	10353	her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a
	10354	process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an
	10355	American. Then who could this American be, and why should he
	10356	possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might
	10357	be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in
	10358	rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got
	10359	before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us
	10360	of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so
	10361	transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a
	10362	bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very
	10363	significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance
	10364	means taking possession of that which another person has a prior
	10365	claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had
	10366	gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a
	10367	previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter."
	10368
	10369	"And how in the world did you find them?"
	10370
	10371	"It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held
	10372	information in his hands the value of which he did not himself
	10373	know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance,
	10374	but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had
	10375	settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels."
	10376
	10377	"How did you deduce the select?"
	10378
	10379	"By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence
	10380	for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive
	10381	hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate.
	10382	In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I
	10383	learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an
	10384	American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking
	10385	over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I
	10386	had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded
	10387	to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate
	10388	enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them
	10389	some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be
	10390	better in every way that they should make their position a little
	10391	clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in
	10392	particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I
	10393	made him keep the appointment."
	10394
	10395	"But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was
	10396	certainly not very gracious."
	10397
	10398	"Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be
	10399	very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and
	10400	wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of
	10401	fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully
	10402	and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in
	10403	the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for
	10404	the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away
	10405	these bleak autumnal evenings."
	10406
	10407
	10408
	10409	XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET
	10410
	10411	"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
	10412	down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather
	10413	sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone."
	10414
	10415	My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands
	10416	in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It
	10417	was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day
	10418	before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the
	10419	wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed
	10420	into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and
	10421	on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as
	10422	when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but
	10423	was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer
	10424	passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the
	10425	Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman
	10426	whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.
	10427
	10428	He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a
	10429	massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was
	10430	dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining
	10431	hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet
	10432	his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress
	10433	and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little
	10434	springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to
	10435	set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and
	10436	down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most
	10437	extraordinary contortions.
	10438
	10439	"What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is
	10440	looking up at the numbers of the houses."
	10441
	10442	"I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his
	10443	hands.
	10444
	10445	"Here?"
	10446
	10447	"Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I
	10448	think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As
	10449	he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and
	10450	pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the
	10451	clanging.
	10452
	10453	A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still
	10454	gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in
	10455	his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and
	10456	pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his
	10457	body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the
	10458	extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his
	10459	feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we
	10460	both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room.
	10461	Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting
	10462	beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy,
	10463	soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ.
	10464
	10465	"You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he.
	10466	"You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have
	10467	recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into
	10468	any little problem which you may submit to me."
	10469
	10470	The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting
	10471	against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his
	10472	brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us.
	10473
	10474	"No doubt you think me mad?" said he.
	10475
	10476	"I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes.
	10477
	10478	"God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my
	10479	reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might
	10480	have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet
	10481	borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man;
	10482	but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have
	10483	been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone.
	10484	The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found
	10485	out of this horrible affair."
	10486
	10487	"Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a
	10488	clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen
	10489	you."
	10490
	10491	"My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your
	10492	ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder &
	10493	Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street."
	10494
	10495	The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior
	10496	partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City
	10497	of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the
	10498	foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We
	10499	waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced
	10500	himself to tell his story.
	10501
	10502	"I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened
	10503	here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure
	10504	your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and
	10505	hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this
	10506	snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who
	10507	takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the
	10508	facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can.
	10509
	10510	"It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking
	10511	business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative
	10512	investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection
	10513	and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means
	10514	of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security
	10515	is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction
	10516	during the last few years, and there are many noble families to
	10517	whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their
	10518	pictures, libraries, or plate.
	10519
	10520	"Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a
	10521	card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I
	10522	saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps
	10523	even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name
	10524	which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest,
	10525	noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the
	10526	honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged
	10527	at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry
	10528	quickly through a disagreeable task.
	10529
	10530	"'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the
	10531	habit of advancing money.'
	10532
	10533	"'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.
	10534
	10535	"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have
	10536	50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a
	10537	sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it
	10538	a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my
	10539	position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place
	10540	one's self under obligations.'
	10541
	10542	"'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.
	10543
	10544	"'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most
	10545	certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you
	10546	think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the
	10547	money should be paid at once.'
	10548
	10549	"'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my
	10550	own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be
	10551	rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do
	10552	it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must
	10553	insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution
	10554	should be taken.'
	10555
	10556	"'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a
	10557	square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair.
	10558	'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?'
	10559
	10560	"'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,'
	10561	said I.
	10562
	10563	"'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft,
	10564	flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery
	10565	which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said
	10566	he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The
	10567	lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the
	10568	sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my
	10569	security.'
	10570
	10571	"I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some
	10572	perplexity from it to my illustrious client.
	10573
	10574	"'You doubt its value?' he asked.
	10575
	10576	"'Not at all. I only doubt--'
	10577
	10578	"'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest
	10579	about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely
	10580	certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a
	10581	pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'
	10582
	10583	"'Ample.'
	10584
	10585	"'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof
	10586	of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I
	10587	have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to
	10588	refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to
	10589	preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I
	10590	need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any
	10591	harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as
	10592	serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the
	10593	world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them.
	10594	I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall
	10595	call for it in person on Monday morning.'
	10596
	10597	"Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but,
	10598	calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000
	10599	pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the
	10600	precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not
	10601	but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility
	10602	which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it
	10603	was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any
	10604	misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever
	10605	consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter
	10606	the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned
	10607	once more to my work.
	10608
	10609	"When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave
	10610	so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had
	10611	been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how
	10612	terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I
	10613	determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always
	10614	carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might
	10615	never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a
	10616	cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel
	10617	with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs
	10618	and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room.
	10619
	10620	"And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to
	10621	thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep
	10622	out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three
	10623	maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose
	10624	absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy
	10625	Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few
	10626	months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has
	10627	always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has
	10628	attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place.
	10629	That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we
	10630	believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way.
	10631
	10632	"So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it
	10633	will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an
	10634	only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr.
	10635	Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am
	10636	myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very
	10637	likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I
	10638	had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a
	10639	moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it
	10640	would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I
	10641	meant it for the best.
	10642
	10643	"It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my
	10644	business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild,
	10645	wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the
	10646	handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a
	10647	member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming
	10648	manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long
	10649	purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards
	10650	and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again
	10651	to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his
	10652	allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried
	10653	more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he
	10654	was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir
	10655	George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.
	10656
	10657	"And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George
	10658	Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently
	10659	brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could
	10660	hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than
	10661	Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been
	10662	everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of
	10663	great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far
	10664	away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his
	10665	cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that
	10666	he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so,
	10667	too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into
	10668	character.
	10669
	10670	"And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but
	10671	when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the
	10672	world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my
	10673	daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful,
	10674	a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and
	10675	gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know
	10676	what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone
	10677	against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for
	10678	he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I
	10679	think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it
	10680	would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his
	10681	whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late!
	10682
	10683	"Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and
	10684	I shall continue with my miserable story.
	10685
	10686	"When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after
	10687	dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious
	10688	treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name
	10689	of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am
	10690	sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed.
	10691	Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous
	10692	coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it.
	10693
	10694	"'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.
	10695
	10696	"'In my own bureau.'
	10697
	10698	"'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the
	10699	night.' said he.
	10700
	10701	"'It is locked up,' I answered.
	10702
	10703	"'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I
	10704	have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'
	10705
	10706	"He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of
	10707	what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with
	10708	a very grave face.
	10709
	10710	"'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let
	10711	me have 200 pounds?'
	10712
	10713	"'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too
	10714	generous with you in money matters.'
	10715
	10716	"'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money,
	10717	or else I can never show my face inside the club again.'
	10718
	10719	"'And a very good thing, too!' I cried.
	10720
	10721	"'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,'
	10722	said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money
	10723	in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try
	10724	other means.'
	10725
	10726	"I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the
	10727	month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which
	10728	he bowed and left the room without another word.
	10729
	10730	"When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my
	10731	treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go
	10732	round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I
	10733	usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform
	10734	myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself
	10735	at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as
	10736	I approached.
	10737
	10738	"'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little
	10739	disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out
	10740	to-night?'
	10741
	10742	"'Certainly not.'
	10743
	10744	"'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she
	10745	has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that
	10746	it is hardly safe and should be stopped.'
	10747
	10748	"'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer
	10749	it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?'
	10750
	10751	"'Quite sure, dad.'
	10752
	10753	"'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom
	10754	again, where I was soon asleep.
	10755
	10756	"I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may
	10757	have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question
	10758	me upon any point which I do not make clear."
	10759
	10760	"On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid."
	10761
	10762	"I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be
	10763	particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety
	10764	in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual.
	10765	About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in
	10766	the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an
	10767	impression behind it as though a window had gently closed
	10768	somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my
	10769	horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in
	10770	the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear,
	10771	and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door.
	10772
	10773	"'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you
	10774	touch that coronet?'
	10775
	10776	"The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy,
	10777	dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the
	10778	light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be
	10779	wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry
	10780	he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I
	10781	snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with
	10782	three of the beryls in it, was missing.
	10783
	10784	"'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have
	10785	destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the
	10786	jewels which you have stolen?'
	10787
	10788	"'Stolen!' he cried.
	10789
	10790	"'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.
	10791
	10792	"'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.
	10793
	10794	"'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I
	10795	call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to
	10796	tear off another piece?'
	10797
	10798	"'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it
	10799	any longer. I shall not say another word about this business,
	10800	since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in
	10801	the morning and make my own way in the world.'
	10802
	10803	"'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried
	10804	half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to
	10805	the bottom.'
	10806
	10807	"'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such
	10808	as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to
	10809	call the police, let the police find what they can.'
	10810
	10811	"By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my
	10812	voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and,
	10813	at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the
	10814	whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the
	10815	ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the
	10816	investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a
	10817	constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with
	10818	his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge
	10819	him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private
	10820	matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was
	10821	national property. I was determined that the law should have its
	10822	way in everything.
	10823
	10824	"'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It
	10825	would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the
	10826	house for five minutes.'
	10827
	10828	"'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you
	10829	have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position
	10830	in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only
	10831	my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at
	10832	stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would
	10833	convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell
	10834	me what he had done with the three missing stones.
	10835
	10836	"'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught
	10837	in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous.
	10838	If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling
	10839	us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'
	10840
	10841	"'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
	10842	turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened
	10843	for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for
	10844	it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search
	10845	was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of
	10846	every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed
	10847	the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the
	10848	wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our
	10849	threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after
	10850	going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to
	10851	you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter.
	10852	The police have openly confessed that they can at present make
	10853	nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think
	10854	necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My
	10855	God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son
	10856	in one night. Oh, what shall I do!"
	10857
	10858	He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to
	10859	and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got
	10860	beyond words.
	10861
	10862	Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows
	10863	knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire.
	10864
	10865	"Do you receive much company?" he asked.
	10866
	10867	"None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of
	10868	Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No
	10869	one else, I think."
	10870
	10871	"Do you go out much in society?"
	10872
	10873	"Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for
	10874	it."
	10875
	10876	"That is unusual in a young girl."
	10877
	10878	"She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She
	10879	is four-and-twenty."
	10880
	10881	"This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to
	10882	her also."
	10883
	10884	"Terrible! She is even more affected than I."
	10885
	10886	"You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?"
	10887
	10888	"How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet
	10889	in his hands."
	10890
	10891	"I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of
	10892	the coronet at all injured?"
	10893
	10894	"Yes, it was twisted."
	10895
	10896	"Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to
	10897	straighten it?"
	10898
	10899	"God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me.
	10900	But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If
	10901	his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?"
	10902
	10903	"Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie?
	10904	His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several
	10905	singular points about the case. What did the police think of the
	10906	noise which awoke you from your sleep?"
	10907
	10908	"They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his
	10909	bedroom door."
	10910
	10911	"A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door
	10912	so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the
	10913	disappearance of these gems?"
	10914
	10915	"They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture
	10916	in the hope of finding them."
	10917
	10918	"Have they thought of looking outside the house?"
	10919
	10920	"Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has
	10921	already been minutely examined."
	10922
	10923	"Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now
	10924	that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you
	10925	or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you
	10926	to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider
	10927	what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came
	10928	down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room,
	10929	opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main
	10930	force a small portion of it, went off to some other place,
	10931	concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that
	10932	nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six
	10933	into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger
	10934	of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?"
	10935
	10936	"But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of
	10937	despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain
	10938	them?"
	10939
	10940	"It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if
	10941	you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together,
	10942	and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into
	10943	details."
	10944
	10945	My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition,
	10946	which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy
	10947	were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I
	10948	confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be
	10949	as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such
	10950	faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some
	10951	grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted
	10952	explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the
	10953	southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his
	10954	hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client
	10955	appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope
	10956	which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a
	10957	desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway
	10958	journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest
	10959	residence of the great financier.
	10960
	10961	Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing
	10962	back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a
	10963	snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates
	10964	which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden
	10965	thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges
	10966	stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the
	10967	tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the
	10968	stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a
	10969	public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing
	10970	at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the
	10971	front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden
	10972	behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I
	10973	went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should
	10974	return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and
	10975	a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height,
	10976	slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against
	10977	the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever
	10978	seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were
	10979	bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept
	10980	silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of
	10981	grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the
	10982	more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong
	10983	character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding
	10984	my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand
	10985	over his head with a sweet womanly caress.
	10986
	10987	"You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you
	10988	not, dad?" she asked.
	10989
	10990	"No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."
	10991
	10992	"But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's
	10993	instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will
	10994	be sorry for having acted so harshly."
	10995
	10996	"Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?"
	10997
	10998	"Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should
	10999	suspect him."
	11000
	11001	"How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with
	11002	the coronet in his hand?"
	11003
	11004	"Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take
	11005	my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say
	11006	no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in
	11007	prison!"
	11008
	11009	"I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary!
	11010	Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences
	11011	to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman
	11012	down from London to inquire more deeply into it."
	11013
	11014	"This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me.
	11015
	11016	"No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in
	11017	the stable lane now."
	11018
	11019	"The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he
	11020	hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir,
	11021	that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth,
	11022	that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime."
	11023
	11024	"I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may
	11025	prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the
	11026	snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing
	11027	Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?"
	11028
	11029	"Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up."
	11030
	11031	"You heard nothing yourself last night?"
	11032
	11033	"Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard
	11034	that, and I came down."
	11035
	11036	"You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you
	11037	fasten all the windows?"
	11038
	11039	"Yes."
	11040
	11041	"Were they all fastened this morning?"
	11042
	11043	"Yes."
	11044
	11045	"You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked
	11046	to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?"
	11047
	11048	"Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and
	11049	who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet."
	11050
	11051	"I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her
	11052	sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery."
	11053
	11054	"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the
	11055	banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with
	11056	the coronet in his hands?"
	11057
	11058	"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this
	11059	girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
	11060	presume?"
	11061
	11062	"Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I
	11063	met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom."
	11064
	11065	"Do you know him?"
	11066
	11067	"Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round.
	11068	His name is Francis Prosper."
	11069
	11070	"He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to
	11071	say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?"
	11072
	11073	"Yes, he did."
	11074
	11075	"And he is a man with a wooden leg?"
	11076
	11077	Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive
	11078	black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you
	11079	know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in
	11080	Holmes' thin, eager face.
	11081
	11082	"I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall
	11083	probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps
	11084	I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up."
	11085
	11086	He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at
	11087	the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane.
	11088	This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill
	11089	with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs,"
	11090	said he at last.
	11091
	11092	The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little
	11093	chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror.
	11094	Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.
	11095
	11096	"Which key was used to open it?" he asked.
	11097
	11098	"That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the
	11099	lumber-room."
	11100
	11101	"Have you it here?"
	11102
	11103	"That is it on the dressing-table."
	11104
	11105	Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.
	11106
	11107	"It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did
	11108	not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must
	11109	have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem
	11110	he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the
	11111	jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I
	11112	have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge,
	11113	where a corner holding three gems had been torn away.
	11114
	11115	"Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which
	11116	corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I
	11117	beg that you will break it off."
	11118
	11119	The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying,"
	11120	said he.
	11121
	11122	"Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but
	11123	without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though
	11124	I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my
	11125	time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do
	11126	you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would
	11127	be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this
	11128	happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard
	11129	nothing of it?"
	11130
	11131	"I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me."
	11132
	11133	"But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think,
	11134	Miss Holder?"
	11135
	11136	"I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity."
	11137
	11138	"Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?"
	11139
	11140	"He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt."
	11141
	11142	"Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary
	11143	luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault
	11144	if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your
	11145	permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations
	11146	outside."
	11147
	11148	He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any
	11149	unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an
	11150	hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet
	11151	heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever.
	11152
	11153	"I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr.
	11154	Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my
	11155	rooms."
	11156
	11157	"But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?"
	11158
	11159	"I cannot tell."
	11160
	11161	The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he
	11162	cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?"
	11163
	11164	"My opinion is in no way altered."
	11165
	11166	"Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was
	11167	acted in my house last night?"
	11168
	11169	"If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow
	11170	morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to
	11171	make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to
	11172	act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you
	11173	place no limit on the sum I may draw."
	11174
	11175	"I would give my fortune to have them back."
	11176
	11177	"Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then.
	11178	Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here
	11179	again before evening."
	11180
	11181	It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up
	11182	about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than
	11183	I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward
	11184	journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always
	11185	glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in
	11186	despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our
	11187	rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in
	11188	a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned
	11189	up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he
	11190	was a perfect sample of the class.
	11191
	11192	"I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass
	11193	above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me,
	11194	Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in
	11195	this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I
	11196	shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few
	11197	hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard,
	11198	sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this
	11199	rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition.
	11200
	11201	I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in
	11202	excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his
	11203	hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a
	11204	cup of tea.
	11205
	11206	"I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on."
	11207
	11208	"Where to?"
	11209
	11210	"Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time
	11211	before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be
	11212	late."
	11213
	11214	"How are you getting on?"
	11215
	11216	"Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham
	11217	since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a
	11218	very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a
	11219	good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get
	11220	these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly
	11221	respectable self."
	11222
	11223	I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for
	11224	satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled,
	11225	and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He
	11226	hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of
	11227	the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his
	11228	congenial hunt.
	11229
	11230	I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so
	11231	I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away
	11232	for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that
	11233	his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he
	11234	came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there
	11235	he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the
	11236	other, as fresh and trim as possible.
	11237
	11238	"You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but
	11239	you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this
	11240	morning."
	11241
	11242	"Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be
	11243	surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring."
	11244
	11245	It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the
	11246	change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally
	11247	of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in,
	11248	while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered
	11249	with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than
	11250	his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into
	11251	the armchair which I pushed forward for him.
	11252
	11253	"I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said
	11254	he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without
	11255	a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured
	11256	age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece,
	11257	Mary, has deserted me."
	11258
	11259	"Deserted you?"
	11260
	11261	"Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was
	11262	empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to
	11263	her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had
	11264	married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was
	11265	thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers
	11266	in this note:
	11267
	11268	"'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you,
	11269	and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune
	11270	might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my
	11271	mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must
	11272	leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is
	11273	provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will
	11274	be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in
	11275	death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.'
	11276
	11277	"What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it
	11278	points to suicide?"
	11279
	11280	"No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible
	11281	solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of
	11282	your troubles."
	11283
	11284	"Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have
	11285	learned something! Where are the gems?"
	11286
	11287	"You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for
	11288	them?"
	11289
	11290	"I would pay ten."
	11291
	11292	"That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter.
	11293	And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book?
	11294	Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds."
	11295
	11296	With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes
	11297	walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of
	11298	gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.
	11299
	11300	With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.
	11301
	11302	"You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!"
	11303
	11304	The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and
	11305	he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.
	11306
	11307	"There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock
	11308	Holmes rather sternly.
	11309
	11310	"Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it."
	11311
	11312	"No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that
	11313	noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I
	11314	should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to
	11315	have one."
	11316
	11317	"Then it was not Arthur who took them?"
	11318
	11319	"I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not."
	11320
	11321	"You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him
	11322	know that the truth is known."
	11323
	11324	"He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an
	11325	interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the
	11326	story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was
	11327	right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite
	11328	clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his
	11329	lips."
	11330
	11331	"For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary
	11332	mystery!"
	11333
	11334	"I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached
	11335	it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me
	11336	to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding
	11337	between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now
	11338	fled together."
	11339
	11340	"My Mary? Impossible!"
	11341
	11342	"It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither
	11343	you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you
	11344	admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most
	11345	dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely
	11346	desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece
	11347	knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he
	11348	had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she
	11349	alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said,
	11350	but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing
	11351	him nearly every evening."
	11352
	11353	"I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an
	11354	ashen face.
	11355
	11356	"I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night.
	11357	Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room,
	11358	slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which
	11359	leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right
	11360	through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the
	11361	coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he
	11362	bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but
	11363	there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all
	11364	other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had
	11365	hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming
	11366	downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you
	11367	about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover,
	11368	which was all perfectly true.
	11369
	11370	"Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but
	11371	he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts.
	11372	In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door,
	11373	so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin
	11374	walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared
	11375	into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad
	11376	slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what
	11377	would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the
	11378	room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw
	11379	that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed
	11380	down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and
	11381	slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see
	11382	what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the
	11383	window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then
	11384	closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close
	11385	to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
	11386
	11387	"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action
	11388	without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the
	11389	instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune
	11390	this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it
	11391	right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened
	11392	the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane,
	11393	where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George
	11394	Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was
	11395	a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the
	11396	coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son
	11397	struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something
	11398	suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet
	11399	in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your
	11400	room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in
	11401	the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you
	11402	appeared upon the scene."
	11403
	11404	"Is it possible?" gasped the banker.
	11405
	11406	"You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when
	11407	he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not
	11408	explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who
	11409	certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He
	11410	took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her
	11411	secret."
	11412
	11413	"And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the
	11414	coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have
	11415	been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes!
	11416	The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the
	11417	scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!"
	11418
	11419	"When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went
	11420	very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in
	11421	the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since
	11422	the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost
	11423	to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but
	11424	found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it,
	11425	however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood
	11426	and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed
	11427	that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been
	11428	disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was
	11429	shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had
	11430	waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time
	11431	that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had
	11432	already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed
	11433	round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks,
	11434	which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable
	11435	lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in
	11436	front of me.
	11437
	11438	"There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second
	11439	double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked
	11440	feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the
	11441	latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the
	11442	other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over
	11443	the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed
	11444	after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the
	11445	hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while
	11446	waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred
	11447	yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round,
	11448	where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle,
	11449	and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me
	11450	that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and
	11451	another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been
	11452	hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that
	11453	the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue.
	11454
	11455	"On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the
	11456	sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could
	11457	at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the
	11458	outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming
	11459	in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what
	11460	had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had
	11461	brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had
	11462	pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged
	11463	at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which
	11464	neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the
	11465	prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So
	11466	far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who
	11467	was it brought him the coronet?
	11468
	11469	"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the
	11470	impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
	11471	truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down,
	11472	so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were
	11473	the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in
	11474	their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his
	11475	cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should
	11476	retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful
	11477	one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and
	11478	how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture
	11479	became a certainty.
	11480
	11481	"And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently,
	11482	for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must
	11483	feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your
	11484	circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir
	11485	George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil
	11486	reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots
	11487	and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur
	11488	had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was
	11489	safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his
	11490	own family.
	11491
	11492	"Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took
	11493	next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house,
	11494	managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that
	11495	his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at
	11496	the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of
	11497	his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and
	11498	saw that they exactly fitted the tracks."
	11499
	11500	"I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,"
	11501	said Mr. Holder.
	11502
	11503	"Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home
	11504	and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to
	11505	play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert
	11506	scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our
	11507	hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of
	11508	course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every
	11509	particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a
	11510	life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I
	11511	clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he
	11512	became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give
	11513	him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That
	11514	brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why,
	11515	dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the
	11516	three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had
	11517	them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I
	11518	set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000
	11519	pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all
	11520	was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after
	11521	what I may call a really hard day's work."
	11522
	11523	"A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said
	11524	the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but
	11525	you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your
	11526	skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I
	11527	must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I
	11528	have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my
	11529	very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now."
	11530
	11531	"I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is
	11532	wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that
	11533	whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than
	11534	sufficient punishment."
	11535
	11536
	11537
	11538	XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES
	11539
	11540	"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock
	11541	Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily
	11542	Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest
	11543	manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is
	11544	pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped
	11545	this truth that in these little records of our cases which you
	11546	have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say,
	11547	occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much
	11548	to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I
	11549	have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been
	11550	trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those
	11551	faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made
	11552	my special province."
	11553
	11554	"And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved
	11555	from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my
	11556	records."
	11557
	11558	"You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing
	11559	cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood
	11560	pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a
	11561	disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred
	11562	perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your
	11563	statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing
	11564	upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is
	11565	really the only notable feature about the thing."
	11566
	11567	"It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,"
	11568	I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism
	11569	which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my
	11570	friend's singular character.
	11571
	11572	"No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as
	11573	was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full
	11574	justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a
	11575	thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it
	11576	is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should
	11577	dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of
	11578	lectures into a series of tales."
	11579
	11580	It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after
	11581	breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at
	11582	Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of
	11583	dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark,
	11584	shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit
	11585	and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for
	11586	the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been
	11587	silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the
	11588	advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last,
	11589	having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very
	11590	sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.
	11591
	11592	"At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he
	11593	had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire,
	11594	"you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of
	11595	these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself
	11596	in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense,
	11597	at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King
	11598	of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the
	11599	problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the
	11600	incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are
	11601	outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I
	11602	fear that you may have bordered on the trivial."
	11603
	11604	"The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold
	11605	to have been novel and of interest."
	11606
	11607	"Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
	11608	public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a
	11609	compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of
	11610	analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot
	11611	blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at
	11612	least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As
	11613	to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an
	11614	agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to
	11615	young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched
	11616	bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my
	11617	zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across
	11618	to me.
	11619
	11620	It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and
	11621	ran thus:
	11622
	11623	"DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether
	11624	I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered
	11625	to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I
	11626	do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully,
	11627	"VIOLET HUNTER."
	11628
	11629	"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
	11630
	11631	"Not I."
	11632
	11633	"It is half-past ten now."
	11634
	11635	"Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring."
	11636
	11637	"It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You
	11638	remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to
	11639	be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation.
	11640	It may be so in this case, also."
	11641
	11642	"Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved,
	11643	for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question."
	11644
	11645	As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room.
	11646	She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face,
	11647	freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a
	11648	woman who has had her own way to make in the world.
	11649
	11650	"You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my
	11651	companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange
	11652	experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort
	11653	from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be
	11654	kind enough to tell me what I should do."
	11655
	11656	"Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything
	11657	that I can to serve you."
	11658
	11659	I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner
	11660	and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching
	11661	fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and
	11662	his finger-tips together, to listen to her story.
	11663
	11664	"I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the
	11665	family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel
	11666	received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his
	11667	children over to America with him, so that I found myself without
	11668	a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but
	11669	without success. At last the little money which I had saved began
	11670	to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.
	11671
	11672	"There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End
	11673	called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in
	11674	order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me.
	11675	Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is
	11676	really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office,
	11677	and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom,
	11678	and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers
	11679	and sees whether she has anything which would suit them.
	11680
	11681	"Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office
	11682	as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A
	11683	prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy
	11684	chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at
	11685	her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very
	11686	earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a
	11687	jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper.
	11688
	11689	"'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better.
	11690	Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his
	11691	hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a
	11692	comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at
	11693	him.
	11694
	11695	"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.
	11696
	11697	"'Yes, sir.'
	11698
	11699	"'As governess?'
	11700
	11701	"'Yes, sir.'
	11702
	11703	"'And what salary do you ask?'
	11704
	11705	"'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence
	11706	Munro.'
	11707
	11708	"'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his
	11709	fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling
	11710	passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with
	11711	such attractions and accomplishments?'
	11712
	11713	"'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I.
	11714	'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--'
	11715
	11716	"'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question.
	11717	The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment
	11718	of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are
	11719	not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a
	11720	considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have
	11721	why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to
	11722	accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me,
	11723	madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.'
	11724
	11725	"You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was,
	11726	such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman,
	11727	however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face,
	11728	opened a pocket-book and took out a note.
	11729
	11730	"'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
	11731	fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid
	11732	the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies
	11733	half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little
	11734	expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.'
	11735
	11736	"It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so
	11737	thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the
	11738	advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something
	11739	unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know
	11740	a little more before I quite committed myself.
	11741
	11742	"'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.
	11743
	11744	"'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles
	11745	on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my
	11746	dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'
	11747
	11748	"'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would
	11749	be.'
	11750
	11751	"'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if
	11752	you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack!
	11753	smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back
	11754	in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.
	11755
	11756	"I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement,
	11757	but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was
	11758	joking.
	11759
	11760	"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single
	11761	child?'
	11762
	11763	"'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he
	11764	cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would
	11765	suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided
	11766	always that they were such commands as a lady might with
	11767	propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?'
	11768
	11769	"'I should be happy to make myself useful.'
	11770
	11771	"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
	11772	know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress
	11773	which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim.
	11774	Heh?'
	11775
	11776	"'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.
	11777
	11778	"'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to
	11779	you?'
	11780
	11781	"'Oh, no.'
	11782
	11783	"'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'
	11784
	11785	"I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes,
	11786	my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of
	11787	chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of
	11788	sacrificing it in this offhand fashion.
	11789
	11790	"'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been
	11791	watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a
	11792	shadow pass over his face as I spoke.
	11793
	11794	"'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a
	11795	little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam,
	11796	ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your
	11797	hair?'
	11798
	11799	"'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.
	11800
	11801	"'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a
	11802	pity, because in other respects you would really have done very
	11803	nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more
	11804	of your young ladies.'
	11805
	11806	"The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers
	11807	without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so
	11808	much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting
	11809	that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal.
	11810
	11811	"'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.
	11812
	11813	"'If you please, Miss Stoper.'
	11814
	11815	"'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the
	11816	most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You
	11817	can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such
	11818	opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong
	11819	upon the table, and I was shown out by the page.
	11820
	11821	"Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found
	11822	little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the
	11823	table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very
	11824	foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and
	11825	expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were
	11826	at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few
	11827	governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides,
	11828	what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing
	11829	it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was
	11830	inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after
	11831	I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go
	11832	back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open
	11833	when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it
	11834	here and I will read it to you:
	11835
	11836	"'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester.
	11837	"'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your
	11838	address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have
	11839	reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you
	11840	should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of
	11841	you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a
	11842	year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which
	11843	our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My
	11844	wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would
	11845	like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need
	11846	not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one
	11847	belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which
	11848	would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting
	11849	here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that
	11850	need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no
	11851	doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty
	11852	during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain
	11853	firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary
	11854	may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child
	11855	is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall
	11856	meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.
	11857	Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.'
	11858
	11859	"That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and
	11860	my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however,
	11861	that before taking the final step I should like to submit the
	11862	whole matter to your consideration."
	11863
	11864	"Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the
	11865	question," said Holmes, smiling.
	11866
	11867	"But you would not advise me to refuse?"
	11868
	11869	"I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to
	11870	see a sister of mine apply for."
	11871
	11872	"What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?"
	11873
	11874	"Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself
	11875	formed some opinion?"
	11876
	11877	"Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr.
	11878	Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not
	11879	possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the
	11880	matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that
	11881	he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an
	11882	outbreak?"
	11883
	11884	"That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is
	11885	the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a
	11886	nice household for a young lady."
	11887
	11888	"But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!"
	11889
	11890	"Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what
	11891	makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when
	11892	they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some
	11893	strong reason behind."
	11894
	11895	"I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would
	11896	understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so
	11897	much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me."
	11898
	11899	"Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that
	11900	your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has
	11901	come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel
	11902	about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt
	11903	or in danger--"
	11904
	11905	"Danger! What danger do you foresee?"
	11906
	11907	Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if
	11908	we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a
	11909	telegram would bring me down to your help."
	11910
	11911	"That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the
	11912	anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire
	11913	quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once,
	11914	sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester
	11915	to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both
	11916	good-night and bustled off upon her way.
	11917
	11918	"At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending
	11919	the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able
	11920	to take care of herself."
	11921
	11922	"And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much
	11923	mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past."
	11924
	11925	It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled.
	11926	A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts
	11927	turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of
	11928	human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual
	11929	salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to
	11930	something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether
	11931	the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond
	11932	my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat
	11933	frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an
	11934	abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his
	11935	hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried
	11936	impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would
	11937	always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever
	11938	have accepted such a situation.
	11939
	11940	The telegram which we eventually received came late one night
	11941	just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down
	11942	to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently
	11943	indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a
	11944	test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came
	11945	down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope,
	11946	and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me.
	11947
	11948	"Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back
	11949	to his chemical studies.
	11950
	11951	The summons was a brief and urgent one.
	11952
	11953	"Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday
	11954	to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER."
	11955
	11956	"Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up.
	11957
	11958	"I should wish to."
	11959
	11960	"Just look it up, then."
	11961
	11962	"There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my
	11963	Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30."
	11964
	11965	"That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my
	11966	analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the
	11967	morning."
	11968
	11969	By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the
	11970	old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers
	11971	all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he
	11972	threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal
	11973	spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white
	11974	clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining
	11975	very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air,
	11976	which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside,
	11977	away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and
	11978	grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light
	11979	green of the new foliage.
	11980
	11981	"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the
	11982	enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
	11983
	11984	But Holmes shook his head gravely.
	11985
	11986	"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of
	11987	a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with
	11988	reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered
	11989	houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them,
	11990	and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their
	11991	isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed
	11992	there."
	11993
	11994	"Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these
	11995	dear old homesteads?"
	11996
	11997	"They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief,
	11998	Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest
	11999	alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin
	12000	than does the smiling and beautiful countryside."
	12001
	12002	"You horrify me!"
	12003
	12004	"But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion
	12005	can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no
	12006	lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of
	12007	a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among
	12008	the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever
	12009	so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is
	12010	but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these
	12011	lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part
	12012	with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the
	12013	deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on,
	12014	year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this
	12015	lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I
	12016	should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of
	12017	country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is
	12018	not personally threatened."
	12019
	12020	"No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away."
	12021
	12022	"Quite so. She has her freedom."
	12023
	12024	"What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?"
	12025
	12026	"I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would
	12027	cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is
	12028	correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we
	12029	shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of
	12030	the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has
	12031	to tell."
	12032
	12033	The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no
	12034	distance from the station, and there we found the young lady
	12035	waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch
	12036	awaited us upon the table.
	12037
	12038	"I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It
	12039	is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I
	12040	should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me."
	12041
	12042	"Pray tell us what has happened to you."
	12043
	12044	"I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr.
	12045	Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into
	12046	town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose."
	12047
	12048	"Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long
	12049	thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.
	12050
	12051	"In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole,
	12052	with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is
	12053	only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and
	12054	I am not easy in my mind about them."
	12055
	12056	"What can you not understand?"
	12057
	12058	"Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just
	12059	as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and
	12060	drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he
	12061	said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself,
	12062	for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all
	12063	stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds
	12064	round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which
	12065	slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about
	12066	a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs
	12067	to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord
	12068	Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in
	12069	front of the hall door has given its name to the place.
	12070
	12071	"I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever,
	12072	and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child.
	12073	There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to
	12074	us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is
	12075	not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much
	12076	younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think,
	12077	while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their
	12078	conversation I have gathered that they have been married about
	12079	seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by
	12080	the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr.
	12081	Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them
	12082	was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As
	12083	the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite
	12084	imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her
	12085	father's young wife.
	12086
	12087	"Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as
	12088	in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse.
	12089	She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately
	12090	devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey
	12091	eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every
	12092	little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her
	12093	also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they
	12094	seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow,
	12095	this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the
	12096	saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her
	12097	in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of
	12098	her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so
	12099	utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small
	12100	for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large.
	12101	His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between
	12102	savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving
	12103	pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea
	12104	of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning
	12105	the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would
	12106	rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he
	12107	has little to do with my story."
	12108
	12109	"I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they
	12110	seem to you to be relevant or not."
	12111
	12112	"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one
	12113	unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was
	12114	the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a
	12115	man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough,
	12116	uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual
	12117	smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been
	12118	quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it.
	12119	His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as
	12120	silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most
	12121	unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the
	12122	nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one
	12123	corner of the building.
	12124
	12125	"For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was
	12126	very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after
	12127	breakfast and whispered something to her husband.
	12128
	12129	"'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to
	12130	you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut
	12131	your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest
	12132	iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue
	12133	dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in
	12134	your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should
	12135	both be extremely obliged.'
	12136
	12137	"The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade
	12138	of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it
	12139	bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not
	12140	have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr.
	12141	and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which
	12142	seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for
	12143	me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching
	12144	along the entire front of the house, with three long windows
	12145	reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the
	12146	central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was
	12147	asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the
	12148	other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest
	12149	stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how
	12150	comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs.
	12151	Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so
	12152	much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad,
	12153	anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle
	12154	suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the
	12155	day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in
	12156	the nursery.
	12157
	12158	"Two days later this same performance was gone through under
	12159	exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I
	12160	sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny
	12161	stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which
	12162	he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and
	12163	moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not
	12164	fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for
	12165	about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then
	12166	suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and
	12167	to change my dress.
	12168
	12169	"You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to
	12170	what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly
	12171	be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face
	12172	away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire
	12173	to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be
	12174	impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been
	12175	broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of
	12176	the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst
	12177	of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able
	12178	with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I
	12179	confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that
	12180	was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I
	12181	perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road,
	12182	a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in
	12183	my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are
	12184	usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the
	12185	railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I
	12186	lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her
	12187	eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing,
	12188	but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my
	12189	hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once.
	12190
	12191	"'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the
	12192	road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'
	12193
	12194	"'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked.
	12195
	12196	"'No, I know no one in these parts.'
	12197
	12198	"'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to
	12199	him to go away.'
	12200
	12201	"'Surely it would be better to take no notice.'
	12202
	12203	"'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn
	12204	round and wave him away like that.'
	12205
	12206	"I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew
	12207	down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have
	12208	not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor
	12209	seen the man in the road."
	12210
	12211	"Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a
	12212	most interesting one."
	12213
	12214	"You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may
	12215	prove to be little relation between the different incidents of
	12216	which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper
	12217	Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands
	12218	near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp
	12219	rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving
	12220	about.
	12221
	12222	"'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two
	12223	planks. 'Is he not a beauty?'
	12224
	12225	"I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a
	12226	vague figure huddled up in the darkness.
	12227
	12228	"'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start
	12229	which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine,
	12230	but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do
	12231	anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then,
	12232	so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose
	12233	every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs
	12234	upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your
	12235	foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life
	12236	is worth.'
	12237
	12238	"The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to
	12239	look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning.
	12240	It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the
	12241	house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was
	12242	standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was
	12243	aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper
	12244	beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It
	12245	was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging
	12246	jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly
	12247	across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side.
	12248	That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not
	12249	think that any burglar could have done.
	12250
	12251	"And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as
	12252	you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a
	12253	great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the
	12254	child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the
	12255	furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things.
	12256	There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones
	12257	empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two
	12258	with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was
	12259	naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It
	12260	struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight,
	12261	so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very
	12262	first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There
	12263	was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never
	12264	guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.
	12265
	12266	"I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint,
	12267	and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing
	12268	obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in
	12269	the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the
	12270	contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two
	12271	tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was
	12272	it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at
	12273	all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer,
	12274	and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that
	12275	I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had
	12276	locked.
	12277
	12278	"I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes,
	12279	and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head.
	12280	There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited
	12281	at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of
	12282	the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked.
	12283	One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle
	12284	coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on
	12285	his face which made him a very different person to the round,
	12286	jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his
	12287	brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his
	12288	temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me
	12289	without a word or a look.
	12290
	12291	"This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the
	12292	grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I
	12293	could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four
	12294	of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the
	12295	fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I
	12296	strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle
	12297	came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.
	12298
	12299	"'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you
	12300	without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with
	12301	business matters.'
	12302
	12303	"I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I,
	12304	'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one
	12305	of them has the shutters up.'
	12306
	12307	"He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled
	12308	at my remark.
	12309
	12310	"'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my
	12311	dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we
	12312	have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever
	12313	believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest
	12314	in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and
	12315	annoyance, but no jest.
	12316
	12317	"Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there
	12318	was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know,
	12319	I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity,
	12320	though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a
	12321	feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this
	12322	place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's
	12323	instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there,
	12324	and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the
	12325	forbidden door.
	12326
	12327	"It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that,
	12328	besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to
	12329	do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large
	12330	black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been
	12331	drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when
	12332	I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at
	12333	all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both
	12334	downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an
	12335	admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock,
	12336	opened the door, and slipped through.
	12337
	12338	"There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and
	12339	uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end.
	12340	Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third
	12341	of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and
	12342	cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so
	12343	thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through
	12344	them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it
	12345	had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked
	12346	at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with
	12347	stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was
	12348	not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the
	12349	shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from
	12350	beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was
	12351	a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the
	12352	passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it
	12353	might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room
	12354	and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little
	12355	slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad,
	12356	unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My
	12357	overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran
	12358	as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the
	12359	skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door,
	12360	and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting
	12361	outside.
	12362
	12363	"'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it
	12364	must be when I saw the door open.'
	12365
	12366	"'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted.
	12367
	12368	"'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how
	12369	caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened
	12370	you, my dear young lady?'
	12371
	12372	"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I
	12373	was keenly on my guard against him.
	12374
	12375	"'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered.
	12376	'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was
	12377	frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in
	12378	there!'
	12379
	12380	"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.
	12381
	12382	"'Why, what did you think?' I asked.
	12383
	12384	"'Why do you think that I lock this door?'
	12385
	12386	"'I am sure that I do not know.'
	12387
	12388	"'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you
	12389	see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.
	12390
	12391	"'I am sure if I had known--'
	12392
	12393	"'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over
	12394	that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into
	12395	a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a
	12396	demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.'
	12397
	12398	"I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that
	12399	I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing
	12400	until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I
	12401	thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without
	12402	some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the
	12403	woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible
	12404	to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of
	12405	course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was
	12406	almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would
	12407	send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the
	12408	office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then
	12409	returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my
	12410	mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I
	12411	remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of
	12412	insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one
	12413	in the household who had any influence with the savage creature,
	12414	or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and
	12415	lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you.
	12416	I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this
	12417	morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and
	12418	Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the
	12419	evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you
	12420	all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you
	12421	could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should
	12422	do."
	12423
	12424	Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.
	12425	My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in
	12426	his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon
	12427	his face.
	12428
	12429	"Is Toller still drunk?" he asked.
	12430
	12431	"Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do
	12432	nothing with him."
	12433
	12434	"That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?"
	12435
	12436	"Yes."
	12437
	12438	"Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?"
	12439
	12440	"Yes, the wine-cellar."
	12441
	12442	"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
	12443	brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
	12444	perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not
	12445	think you a quite exceptional woman."
	12446
	12447	"I will try. What is it?"
	12448
	12449	"We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend
	12450	and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will,
	12451	we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might
	12452	give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some
	12453	errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate
	12454	matters immensely."
	12455
	12456	"I will do it."
	12457
	12458	"Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of
	12459	course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been
	12460	brought there to personate someone, and the real person is
	12461	imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this
	12462	prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice
	12463	Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to
	12464	America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height,
	12465	figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very
	12466	possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of
	12467	course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you
	12468	came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some
	12469	friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore
	12470	the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your
	12471	laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture,
	12472	that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer
	12473	desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent
	12474	him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly
	12475	clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of
	12476	the child."
	12477
	12478	"What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated.
	12479
	12480	"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining
	12481	light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the
	12482	parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have
	12483	frequently gained my first real insight into the character of
	12484	parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is
	12485	abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he
	12486	derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or
	12487	from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their
	12488	power."
	12489
	12490	"I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A
	12491	thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you
	12492	have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to
	12493	this poor creature."
	12494
	12495	"We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning
	12496	man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall
	12497	be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the
	12498	mystery."
	12499
	12500	We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we
	12501	reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside
	12502	public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining
	12503	like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were
	12504	sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been
	12505	standing smiling on the door-step.
	12506
	12507	"Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.
	12508
	12509	A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is
	12510	Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring
	12511	on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates
	12512	of Mr. Rucastle's."
	12513
	12514	"You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now
	12515	lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black
	12516	business."
	12517
	12518	We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a
	12519	passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss
	12520	Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the
	12521	transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but
	12522	without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence
	12523	Holmes' face clouded over.
	12524
	12525	"I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss
	12526	Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put
	12527	your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our
	12528	way in."
	12529
	12530	It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united
	12531	strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There
	12532	was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a
	12533	basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner
	12534	gone.
	12535
	12536	"There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty
	12537	has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim
	12538	off."
	12539
	12540	"But how?"
	12541
	12542	"Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He
	12543	swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the
	12544	end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did
	12545	it."
	12546
	12547	"But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not
	12548	there when the Rucastles went away."
	12549
	12550	"He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and
	12551	dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were
	12552	he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it
	12553	would be as well for you to have your pistol ready."
	12554
	12555	The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at
	12556	the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy
	12557	stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the
	12558	wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and
	12559	confronted him.
	12560
	12561	"You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"
	12562
	12563	The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open
	12564	skylight.
	12565
	12566	"It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies
	12567	and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll
	12568	serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he
	12569	could go.
	12570
	12571	"He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter.
	12572
	12573	"I have my revolver," said I.
	12574
	12575	"Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed
	12576	down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we
	12577	heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a
	12578	horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An
	12579	elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out
	12580	at a side door.
	12581
	12582	"My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been
	12583	fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!"
	12584
	12585	Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with
	12586	Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its
	12587	black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and
	12588	screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and
	12589	it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great
	12590	creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and
	12591	carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid
	12592	him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered
	12593	Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to
	12594	relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door
	12595	opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.
	12596
	12597	"Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter.
	12598
	12599	"Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he
	12600	went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know
	12601	what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains
	12602	were wasted."
	12603
	12604	"Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs.
	12605	Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else."
	12606
	12607	"Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know."
	12608
	12609	"Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
	12610	points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark."
	12611
	12612	"I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done
	12613	so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
	12614	police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the
	12615	one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend
	12616	too.
	12617
	12618	"She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time
	12619	that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no
	12620	say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until
	12621	after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could
	12622	learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so
	12623	quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them
	12624	but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was
	12625	safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming
	12626	forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then
	12627	her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to
	12628	sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use
	12629	her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until
	12630	she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then
	12631	she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her
	12632	beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her
	12633	young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be."
	12634
	12635	"Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough
	12636	to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce
	12637	all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this
	12638	system of imprisonment?"
	12639
	12640	"Yes, sir."
	12641
	12642	"And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of
	12643	the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler."
	12644
	12645	"That was it, sir."
	12646
	12647	"But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should
	12648	be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain
	12649	arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your
	12650	interests were the same as his."
	12651
	12652	"Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said
	12653	Mrs. Toller serenely.
	12654
	12655	"And in this way he managed that your good man should have no
	12656	want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment
	12657	when your master had gone out."
	12658
	12659	"You have it, sir, just as it happened."
	12660
	12661	"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for
	12662	you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And
	12663	here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think,
	12664	Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester,
	12665	as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a
	12666	questionable one."
	12667
	12668	And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the
	12669	copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but
	12670	was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of
	12671	his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who
	12672	probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it
	12673	difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were
	12674	married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their
	12675	flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in
	12676	the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend
	12677	Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further
	12678	interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one
	12679	of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at
	12680	Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
	12681
	12682
	12683
	12684
	12685
	12686
	12687
	12688
	12689
	12690	End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by
	12691	Arthur Conan Doyle
	12692
	12693	* END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *
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-0

testdata/summarize.json less more

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	3	"sentences": 2,
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