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+Project Gutenberg's Return of Sherlock Holmes [Magazine Edition]
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+Title: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
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+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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+Release Date: February, 1995  [Etext #221B]
+[Most recently updated on July 8, 2007]
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+Edition: 11
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+Language: English
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+--------------------------------------------------------------
+This edition of _The Return of Sherlock Holmes_ rholm10a.txt
+is based on the PG etext rholm10.txt (prepared by Charles Keller
+keller@ra.msstate.edu from a 1905 Doubleday-Collier edition)
+and proof-read so as to duplicate the original publication
+of these stories (using facsimiles) in The Strand Magazine
+by Joanne Brown brownjm@admin1.unbsj.ca, Frank Sadowski
+fsdw@db1.cc.rochester.edu, & Roger Squires rsquires@unm.edu.
+Thanks also to The Hounds of the Internet (blocka@beloit.edu
+for more info) for their assistance and encouragement.
+--------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+ THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+ By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+I. -- The Adventure of the Empty House.
+
+
+IT was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was
+interested, and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of
+the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicable
+circumstances.  The public has already learned those particulars
+of the crime which came out in the police investigation; but a
+good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for
+the prosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not
+necessary to bring forward all the facts.  Only now, at the end
+of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links
+which make up the whole of that remarkable chain.  The crime was
+of interest in itself, but that interest was as nothing to me
+compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the
+greatest shock and surprise of any event in my adventurous life.
+Even now, after this long interval, I find myself thrilling as
+I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy,
+amazement, and incredulity which utterly submerged my mind.
+Let me say to that public which has shown some interest in those
+glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts
+and actions of a very remarkable man that they are not to blame
+me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for I should
+have considered it my first duty to have done so had I not been
+barred by a positive prohibition from his own lips, which was
+only withdrawn upon the third of last month.
+
+It can be imagined that my close intimacy with Sherlock Holmes
+had interested me deeply in crime, and that after his
+disappearance I never failed to read with care the various
+problems which came before the public, and I even attempted more
+than once for my own private satisfaction to employ his methods
+in their solution, though with indifferent success.  There was
+none, however, which appealed to me like this tragedy of Ronald
+Adair.  As I read the evidence at the inquest, which led up to
+a verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons
+unknown, I realized more clearly than I had ever done the loss
+which the community had sustained by the death of Sherlock
+Holmes.  There were points about this strange business which
+would, I was sure, have specially appealed to him, and the
+efforts of the police would have been supplemented, or more
+probably anticipated, by the trained observation and the alert
+mind of the first criminal agent in Europe.  All day as I drove
+upon my round I turned over the case in my mind, and found no
+explanation which appeared to me to be adequate.  At the risk of
+telling a twice-told tale I will recapitulate the facts as they
+were known to the public at the conclusion of the inquest.
+
+The Honourable Ronald Adair was the second son of the Earl
+of Maynooth, at that time Governor of one of the Australian
+Colonies.  Adair's mother had returned from Australia to
+undergo the operation for cataract, and she, her son Ronald,
+and her daughter Hilda were living together at 427, Park Lane.
+The youth moved in the best society, had, so far as was known,
+no enemies, and no particular vices.  He had been engaged to Miss
+Edith Woodley, of Carstairs, but the engagement had been broken
+off by mutual consent some months before, and there was no sign
+that it had left any very profound feeling behind it.  For the
+rest the man's life moved in a narrow and conventional circle,
+for his habits were quiet and his nature unemotional.  Yet it
+was upon this easy-going young aristocrat that death came in
+most strange and unexpected form between the hours of ten and
+eleven-twenty on the night of March 30, 1894.
+
+Ronald Adair was fond of cards, playing continually, but never
+for such stakes as would hurt him.  He was a member of the
+Baldwin, the Cavendish, and the Bagatelle card clubs.  It was
+shown that after dinner on the day of his death he had played
+a rubber of whist at the latter club.  He had also played there
+in the afternoon.  The evidence of those who had played with him
+-- Mr. Murray, Sir John Hardy, and Colonel Moran -- showed that
+the game was whist, and that there was a fairly equal fall of
+the cards.  Adair might have lost five pounds, but not more.
+His fortune was a considerable one, and such a loss could not in
+any way affect him.  He had played nearly every day at one club
+or other, but he was a cautious player, and usually rose a winner.
+It came out in evidence that in partnership with Colonel Moran
+he had actually won as much as four hundred and twenty pounds in
+a sitting some weeks before from Godfrey Milner and Lord Balmoral.
+So much for his recent history, as it came out at the inquest.
+
+On the evening of the crime he returned from the club exactly at
+ten.  His mother and sister were out spending the evening with a
+relation.  The servant deposed that she heard him enter the front
+room on the second floor, generally used as his sitting-room.
+She had lit a fire there, and as it smoked she had opened the window.
+No sound was heard from the room until eleven-twenty, the hour of
+the return of Lady Maynooth and her daughter.  Desiring to say
+good-night, she had attempted to enter her son's room.  The door
+was locked on the inside, and no answer could be got to their
+cries and knocking.  Help was obtained and the door forced.
+The unfortunate young man was found lying near the table.
+His head had been horribly mutilated by an expanding revolver
+bullet, but no weapon of any sort was to be found in the room.
+On the table lay two bank-notes for ten pounds each and seventeen
+pounds ten in silver and gold, the money arranged in little piles
+of varying amount.  There were some figures also upon a sheet of
+paper with the names of some club friends opposite to them,
+from which it was conjectured that before his death he was
+endeavouring to make out his losses or winnings at cards.
+
+A minute examination of the circumstances served only to make
+the case more complex.  In the first place, no reason could be
+given why the young man should have fastened the door upon the
+inside.  There was the possibility that the murderer had done
+this and had afterwards escaped by the window.  The drop was at
+least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom
+lay beneath.  Neither the flowers nor the earth showed any sign
+of having been disturbed, nor were there any marks upon the
+narrow strip of grass which separated the house from the road.
+Apparently, therefore, it was the young man himself who had
+fastened the door.  But how did he come by his death?
+No one could have climbed up to the window without leaving traces.
+Suppose a man had fired through the window, it would indeed be a
+remarkable shot who could with a revolver inflict so deadly a
+wound.  Again, Park Lane is a frequented thoroughfare, and there
+is a cab-stand within a hundred yards of the house.  No one had
+heard a shot.  And yet there was the dead man, and there the
+revolver bullet, which had mushroomed out, as soft-nosed bullets
+will, and so inflicted a wound which must have caused
+instantaneous death.  Such were the circumstances of the Park
+Lane Mystery, which were further complicated by entire absence
+of motive, since, as I have said, young Adair was not known to
+have any enemy, and no attempt had been made to remove the money
+or valuables in the room.
+
+All day I turned these facts over in my mind, endeavouring to
+hit upon some theory which could reconcile them all, and to find
+that line of least resistance which my poor friend had declared
+to be the starting-point of every investigation.  I confess that
+I made little progress.  In the evening I strolled across the
+Park, and found myself about six o'clock at the Oxford Street
+end of Park Lane.  A group of loafers upon the pavements, all
+staring up at a particular window, directed me to the house
+which I had come to see.  A tall, thin man with coloured
+glasses, whom I strongly suspected of being a plain-clothes
+detective, was pointing out some theory of his own, while the
+others crowded round to listen to what he said.  I got as near
+him as I could, but his observations seemed to me to be absurd,
+so I withdrew again in some disgust.  As I did so I struck
+against an elderly deformed man, who had been behind me, and I
+knocked down several books which he was carrying.  I remember
+that as I picked them up I observed the title of one of them,
+"The Origin of Tree Worship," and it struck me that the fellow
+must be some poor bibliophile who, either as a trade or as a
+hobby, was a collector of obscure volumes.  I endeavoured to
+apologize for the accident, but it was evident that these books
+which I had so unfortunately maltreated were very precious
+objects in the eyes of their owner.  With a snarl of contempt
+he turned upon his heel, and I saw his curved back and white
+side-whiskers disappear among the throng.
+
+My observations of No. 427, Park Lane did little to clear up the
+problem in which I was interested.  The house was separated from
+the street by a low wall and railing, the whole not more than
+five feet high.  It was perfectly easy, therefore, for anyone
+to get into the garden, but the window was entirely inaccessible,
+since there was no water-pipe or anything which could help the
+most active man to climb it.  More puzzled than ever I retraced
+my steps to Kensington.  I had not been in my study five minutes
+when the maid entered to say that a person desired to see me.
+To my astonishment it was none other than my strange old
+book-collector, his sharp, wizened face peering out from a frame
+of white hair, and his precious volumes, a dozen of them at least,
+wedged under his right arm.
+
+"You're surprised to see me, sir," said he, in a strange,
+croaking voice.
+
+I acknowledged that I was.
+
+"Well, I've a conscience, sir, and when I chanced to see you go
+into this house, as I came hobbling after you, I thought to myself,
+I'll just step in and see that kind gentleman, and tell him that
+if I was a bit gruff in my manner there was not any harm meant,
+and that I am much obliged to him for picking up my books."
+
+"You make too much of a trifle," said I.  "May I ask how you
+knew who I was?"
+
+"Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour
+of yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of
+Church Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure.  Maybe you
+collect yourself, sir; here's `British Birds,' and `Catullus,'
+and `The Holy War' -- a bargain every one of them.  With five
+volumes you could just fill that gap on that second shelf.
+It looks untidy, does it not, sir?"
+
+I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me.  When I turned
+again Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my
+study table.  I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds
+in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted
+for the first and the last time in my life.  Certainly a grey
+mist swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my
+collar-ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon
+my lips.  Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.
+
+"My dear Watson," said the well-remembered voice, "I owe you a
+thousand apologies.  I had no idea that you would be so affected."
+
+I gripped him by the arm.
+
+"Holmes!" I cried.  "Is it really you?  Can it indeed be that
+you are alive?  Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing
+out of that awful abyss?"
+
+"Wait a moment," said he.  "Are you sure that you are really
+fit to discuss things?  I have given you a serious shock by my
+unnecessarily dramatic reappearance."
+
+"I am all right, but indeed, Holmes, I can hardly believe my
+eyes.  Good heavens, to think that you -- you of all men --
+should be standing in my study!"  Again I gripped him by the
+sleeve and felt the thin, sinewy arm beneath it.  "Well, you're
+not a spirit, anyhow," said I.  "My dear chap, I am overjoyed
+to see you.  Sit down and tell me how you came alive out of
+that dreadful chasm."
+
+He sat opposite to me and lit a cigarette in his old nonchalant
+manner.  He was dressed in the seedy frock-coat of the book
+merchant, but the rest of that individual lay in a pile of white
+hair and old books upon the table.  Holmes looked even thinner
+and keener than of old, but there was a dead-white tinge in his
+aquiline face which told me that his life recently had not been
+a healthy one.
+
+"I am glad to stretch myself, Watson," said he.  "It is no joke
+when a tall man has to take a foot off his stature for several
+hours on end.  Now, my dear fellow, in the matter of these
+explanations we have, if I may ask for your co-operation, a hard
+and dangerous night's work in front of us.  Perhaps it would be
+better if I gave you an account of the whole situation when that
+work is finished."
+
+"I am full of curiosity.  I should much prefer to hear now."
+
+"You'll come with me to-night?"
+
+"When you like and where you like."
+
+"This is indeed like the old days.  We shall have time for a
+mouthful of dinner before we need go.  Well, then, about that
+chasm.  I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it, for
+the very simple reason that I never was in it."
+
+"You never were in it?"
+
+"No, Watson, I never was in it.  My note to you was absolutely
+genuine.  I had little doubt that I had come to the end of my
+career when I perceived the somewhat sinister figure of the late
+Professor Moriarty standing upon the narrow pathway which led to
+safety.  I read an inexorable purpose in his grey eyes.
+I exchanged some remarks with him, therefore, and obtained his
+courteous permission to write the short note which you
+afterwards received.  I left it with my cigarette-box and my
+stick and I walked along the pathway, Moriarty still at my
+heels.  When I reached the end I stood at bay.  He drew no
+weapon, but he rushed at me and threw his long arms around me.
+He knew that his own game was up, and was only anxious to
+revenge himself upon me.  We tottered together upon the brink
+of the fall.  I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the
+Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very
+useful to me.  I slipped through his grip, and he with a
+horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds and clawed the
+air with both his hands.  But for all his efforts he could not
+get his balance, and over he went.  With my face over the brink
+I saw him fall for a long way.  Then he struck a rock, bounded
+off, and splashed into the water."
+
+I listened with amazement to this explanation, which Holmes
+delivered between the puffs of his cigarette.
+
+"But the tracks!" I cried.  "I saw with my own eyes that two
+went down the path and none returned."
+
+"It came about in this way.  The instant that the Professor had
+disappeared it struck me what a really extraordinarily lucky
+chance Fate had placed in my way.  I knew that Moriarty was not
+the only man who had sworn my death.  There were at least three
+others whose desire for vengeance upon me would only be
+increased by the death of their leader.  They were all most
+dangerous men.  One or other would certainly get me.  On the
+other hand, if all the world was convinced that I was dead they
+would take liberties, these men, they would lay themselves open,
+and sooner or later I could destroy them.  Then it would be time
+for me to announce that I was still in the land of the living.
+So rapidly does the brain act that I believe I had thought this
+all out before Professor Moriarty had reached the bottom
+of the Reichenbach Fall.
+
+"I stood up and examined the rocky wall behind me.  In your
+picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great
+interest some months later, you assert that the wall was sheer.
+This was not literally true.  A few small footholds presented
+themselves, and there was some indication of a ledge.  The cliff
+is so high that to climb it all was an obvious impossibility,
+and it was equally impossible to make my way along the wet path
+without leaving some tracks.  I might, it is true, have reversed
+my boots, as I have done on similar occasions, but the sight of
+three sets of tracks in one direction would certainly have
+suggested a deception.  On the whole, then, it was best that I
+should risk the climb.  It was not a pleasant business, Watson.
+The fall roared beneath me.  I am not a fanciful person, but
+I give you my word that I seemed to hear Moriarty's voice
+screaming at me out of the abyss.  A mistake would have been fatal.
+More than once, as tufts of grass came out in my hand or my foot
+slipped in the wet notches of the rock, I thought that I was gone.
+But I struggled upwards, and at last I reached a ledge several feet
+deep and covered with soft green moss, where I could lie unseen
+in the most perfect comfort.  There I was stretched when you,
+my dear Watson, and all your following were investigating in the most
+sympathetic and inefficient manner the circumstances of my death.
+
+"At last, when you had all formed your inevitable and totally
+erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel and I was left
+alone.  I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures,
+but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were
+surprises still in store for me.  A huge rock, falling from above,
+boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm.
+For an instant I thought that it was an accident; but a moment later,
+looking up, I saw a man's head against the darkening sky, and
+another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched,
+within a foot of my head.  Of course, the meaning of this was obvious.
+Moriarty had not been alone.  A confederate -- and even that one
+glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was --
+had kept guard while the Professor had attacked me.  From a distance,
+unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and of my
+escape.  He had waited, and then, making his way round to the top of
+the cliff, he had endeavoured to succeed where his comrade had failed.
+
+"I did not take long to think about it, Watson.  Again I saw
+that grim face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the
+precursor of another stone.  I scrambled down on to the path.
+I don't think I could have done it in cold blood.  It was a
+hundred times more difficult than getting up.  But I had no time
+to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I hung
+by my hands from the edge of the ledge.  Halfway down I slipped,
+but by the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the
+path.  I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in
+the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence with the
+certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.
+
+"I had only one confidant -- my brother Mycroft.  I owe you many
+apologies, my dear Watson, but it was all-important that it
+should be thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you
+would not have written so convincing an account of my unhappy
+end had you not yourself thought that it was true.  Several
+times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to
+write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard
+for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray
+my secret.  For that reason I turned away from you this evening
+when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and
+any show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn
+attention to my identity and led to the most deplorable and
+irreparable results.  As to Mycroft, I had to confide in him in
+order to obtain the money which I needed.  The course of events
+in London did not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of
+the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own
+most vindictive enemies, at liberty.  I travelled for two years
+in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhassa and
+spending some days with the head Llama.  You may have read of
+the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but
+I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving
+news of your friend.  I then passed through Persia, looked in at
+Mecca, and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at
+Khartoum, the results of which I have communicated to the
+Foreign Office.  Returning to France I spent some months in a
+research into the coal-tar derivatives, which I conducted in a
+laboratory at Montpelier, in the South of France.  Having
+concluded this to my satisfaction, and learning that only one of
+my enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my
+movements were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park
+Lane Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own merits,
+but which seemed to offer some most peculiar personal
+opportunities.  I came over at once to London, called in my own
+person at Baker Street, threw Mrs. Hudson into violent hysterics,
+and found that Mycroft had preserved my rooms and my papers
+exactly as they had always been.  So it was, my dear Watson,
+that at two o'clock to-day I found myself in my old arm-chair in
+my own old room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old
+friend Watson in the other chair which he has so often adorned."
+
+Such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that
+April evening -- a narrative which would have been utterly
+incredible to me had it not been confirmed by the actual sight
+of the tall, spare figure and the keen, eager face, which I had
+never thought to see again.  In some manner he had learned of my
+own sad bereavement, and his sympathy was shown in his manner
+rather than in his words.  "Work is the best antidote to sorrow,
+my dear Watson," said he, "and I have a piece of work for us
+both to-night which, if we can bring it to a successful
+conclusion, will in itself justify a man's life on this planet."
+In vain I begged him to tell me more.  "You will hear and see
+enough before morning," he answered.  "We have three years of
+the past to discuss.  Let that suffice until half-past nine,
+when we start upon the notable adventure of the empty house."
+
+It was indeed like old times when, at that hour, I found myself
+seated beside him in a hansom, my revolver in my pocket and the
+thrill of adventure in my heart.  Holmes was cold and stern and
+silent.  As the gleam of the street-lamps flashed upon his
+austere features I saw that his brows were drawn down in thought
+and his thin lips compressed.  I knew not what wild beast we
+were about to hunt down in the dark jungle of criminal London,
+but I was well assured from the bearing of this master huntsman
+that the adventure was a most grave one, while the sardonic
+smile which occasionally broke through his ascetic gloom boded
+little good for the object of our quest.
+
+I had imagined that we were bound for Baker Street, but Holmes
+stopped the cab at the corner of Cavendish Square.  I observed
+that as he stepped out he gave a most searching glance to right
+and left, and at every subsequent street corner he took the
+utmost pains to assure that he was not followed.  Our route was
+certainly a singular one.  Holmes's knowledge of the byways of
+London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he passed rapidly,
+and with an assured step, through a network of mews and stables
+the very existence of which I had never known.  We emerged at
+last into a small road, lined with old, gloomy houses, which led
+us into Manchester Street, and so to Blandford Street.  Here he
+turned swiftly down a narrow passage, passed through a wooden
+gate into a deserted yard, and then opened with a key the back
+door of a house.  We entered together and he closed it behind us.
+
+The place was pitch-dark, but it was evident to me that it was
+an empty house.  Our feet creaked and crackled over the bare
+planking, and my outstretched hand touched a wall from which the
+paper was hanging in ribbons.  Holmes's cold, thin fingers
+closed round my wrist and led me forwards down a long hall,
+until I dimly saw the murky fanlight over the door.  Here Holmes
+turned suddenly to the right, and we found ourselves in a large,
+square, empty room, heavily shadowed in the corners, but faintly
+lit in the centre from the lights of the street beyond.  There was
+no lamp near and the window was thick with dust, so that we could
+only just discern each other's figures within.  My companion put
+his hand upon my shoulder and his lips close to my ear.
+
+"Do you know where we are?"  he whispered.
+
+"Surely that is Baker Street," I answered, staring through the
+dim window.
+
+"Exactly.  We are in Camden House, which stands opposite to our
+own old quarters."
+
+"But why are we here?"
+
+"Because it commands so excellent a view of that picturesque pile.
+Might I trouble you, my dear Watson, to draw a little nearer to
+the window, taking every precaution not to show yourself,
+and then to look up at our old rooms -- the starting-point of so
+many of our little adventures?  We will see if my three years of
+absence have entirely taken away my power to surprise you."
+
+I crept forward and looked across at the familiar window.
+As my eyes fell upon it I gave a gasp and a cry of amazement.
+The blind was down and a strong light was burning in the room.
+The shadow of a man who was seated in a chair within was thrown in
+hard, black outline upon the luminous screen of the window.
+There was no mistaking the poise of the head, the squareness of
+the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.  The face was
+turned half-round, and the effect was that of one of those black
+silhouettes which our grandparents loved to frame.  It was a
+perfect reproduction of Holmes.  So amazed was I that I threw
+out my hand to make sure that the man himself was standing
+beside me.  He was quivering with silent laughter.
+
+"Well?"  said he.
+
+"Good heavens!" I cried.  "It is marvellous."
+
+"I trust that age doth not wither nor custom stale my infinite
+variety,'" said he, and I recognised in his voice the joy and
+pride which the artist takes in his own creation.  "It really is
+rather like me, is it not?"
+
+"I should be prepared to swear that it was you."
+
+"The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar Meunier,
+of Grenoble, who spent some days in doing the moulding.  It is a
+bust in wax.  The rest I arranged myself during my visit to
+Baker Street this afternoon."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Because, my dear Watson, I had the strongest possible reason
+for wishing certain people to think that I was there when I was
+really elsewhere."
+
+"And you thought the rooms were watched?"
+
+"I KNEW that they were watched."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By my old enemies, Watson.  By the charming society whose leader
+lies in the Reichenbach Fall.  You must remember that they knew,
+and only they knew, that I was still alive.  Sooner or later they
+believed that I should come back to my rooms.  They watched them
+continuously, and this morning they saw me arrive."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Because I recognised their sentinel when I glanced out of my
+window.  He is a harmless enough fellow, Parker by name,
+a garroter by trade, and a remarkable performer upon the Jew's
+harp.  I cared nothing for him.  But I cared a great deal for
+the much more formidable person who was behind him, the bosom
+friend of Moriarty, the man who dropped the rocks over the cliff,
+the most cunning and dangerous criminal in London.  That is the
+man who is after me to-night, Watson, and that is the man who is
+quite unaware that we are after HIM."
+
+My friend's plans were gradually revealing themselves.
+From this convenient retreat the watchers were being watched and
+the trackers tracked.  That angular shadow up yonder was the bait
+and we were the hunters.  In silence we stood together in the
+darkness and watched the hurrying figures who passed and
+repassed in front of us.  Holmes was silent and motionless;
+but I could tell that he was keenly alert, and that his eyes were
+fixed intently upon the stream of passers-by.  It was a bleak
+and boisterous night, and the wind whistled shrilly down the
+long street.  Many people were moving to and fro, most of them
+muffled in their coats and cravats.  Once or twice it seemed to
+me that I had seen the same figure before, and I especially
+noticed two men who appeared to be sheltering themselves from
+the wind in the doorway of a house some distance up the street.
+I tried to draw my companion's attention to them, but he gave a
+little ejaculation of impatience and continued to stare into the
+street.  More than once he fidgeted with his feet and tapped
+rapidly with his fingers upon the wall.  It was evident to me
+that he was becoming uneasy and that his plans were not working
+out altogether as he had hoped.  At last, as midnight approached
+and the street gradually cleared, he paced up and down the room
+in uncontrollable agitation.  I was about to make some remark to
+him when I raised my eyes to the lighted window and again
+experienced almost as great a surprise as before.  I clutched
+Holmes's arm and pointed upwards.
+
+"The shadow has moved!"  I cried.
+
+It was, indeed, no longer the profile, but the back, which was
+turned towards us.
+
+Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper
+or his impatience with a less active intelligence than his own.
+
+"Of course it has moved," said he.  "Am I such a farcical
+bungler, Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy and expect
+that some of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it?
+We have been in this room two hours, and Mrs. Hudson has made
+some change in that figure eight times, or once in every quarter
+of an hour.  She works it from the front so that her shadow may
+never be seen.  Ah!"  He drew in his breath with a shrill,
+excited intake.  In the dim light I saw his head thrown forward,
+his whole attitude rigid with attention.  Outside, the street
+was absolutely deserted.  Those two men might still be crouching
+in the doorway, but I could no longer see them.  All was still
+and dark, save only that brilliant yellow screen in front of us
+with the black figure outlined upon its centre. Again in the
+utter silence I heard that thin, sibilant note which spoke of
+intense suppressed excitement.  An instant later he pulled me
+back into the blackest corner of the room, and I felt his
+warning hand upon my lips.  The fingers which clutched me were
+quivering.  Never had I known my friend more moved, and yet the
+dark street still stretched lonely and motionless before us.
+
+But suddenly I was aware of that which his keener senses had
+already distinguished.  A low, stealthy sound came to my ears,
+not from the direction of Baker Street, but from the back of the
+very house in which we lay concealed.  A door opened and shut.
+An instant later steps crept down the passage -- steps which
+were meant to be silent, but which reverberated harshly through
+the empty house.  Holmes crouched back against the wall and I
+did the same, my hand closing upon the handle of my revolver.
+Peering through the gloom, I saw the vague outline of a man,
+a shade blacker than the blackness of the open door.  He stood
+for an instant, and then he crept forward, crouching, menacing,
+into the room.  He was within three yards of us, this sinister
+figure, and I had braced myself to meet his spring, before I
+realized that he had no idea of our presence.  He passed close
+beside us, stole over to the window, and very softly and
+noiselessly raised it for half a foot.  As he sank to the level
+of this opening the light of the street, no longer dimmed by the
+dusty glass, fell full upon his face.  The man seemed to be
+beside himself with excitement.  His two eyes shone like stars
+and his features were working convulsively.  He was an elderly
+man, with a thin, projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a
+huge grizzled moustache.  An opera-hat was pushed to the back of
+his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through
+his open overcoat.  His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with
+deep, savage lines.  In his hand he carried what appeared to be
+a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave a
+metallic clang.  Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a
+bulky object, and he busied himself in some task which ended
+with a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into
+its place.  Still kneeling upon the floor he bent forward and
+threw all his weight and strength upon some lever, with the
+result that there came a long, whirling, grinding noise, ending
+once more in a powerful click.  He straightened himself then,
+and I saw that what he held in his hand was a sort of gun, with
+a curiously misshapen butt.  He opened it at the breech, put
+something in, and snapped the breech-block.  Then, crouching
+down, he rested the end of the barrel upon the ledge of the open
+window, and I saw his long moustache droop over the stock and
+his eye gleam as it peered along the sights.  I heard a little
+sigh of satisfaction as he cuddled the butt into his shoulder,
+and saw that amazing target, the black man on the yellow ground,
+standing clear at the end of his fore sight.  For an instant he
+was rigid and motionless.  Then his finger tightened on the
+trigger.  There was a strange, loud whiz and a long, silvery
+tinkle of broken glass.  At that instant Holmes sprang like a
+tiger on to the marksman's back and hurled him flat upon his
+face.  He was up again in a moment, and with convulsive strength
+he seized Holmes by the throat; but I struck him on the head
+with the butt of my revolver and he dropped again upon the floor.
+I fell upon him, and as I held him my comrade blew a shrill call
+upon a whistle.  There was the clatter of running feet upon the
+pavement, and two policemen in uniform, with one plain-clothes
+detective, rushed through the front entrance and into the room.
+
+"That you, Lestrade?"  said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes.  I took the job myself.  It's good to see you
+back in London, sir."
+
+"I think you want a little unofficial help.  Three undetected
+murders in one year won't do, Lestrade.  But you handled the
+Molesey Mystery with less than your usual -- that's to say, you
+handled it fairly well."
+
+We had all risen to our feet, our prisoner breathing hard,
+with a stalwart constable on each side of him.  Already a few
+loiterers had begun to collect in the street.  Holmes stepped up
+to the window, closed it, and dropped the blinds.  Lestrade had
+produced two candles and the policemen had uncovered their lanterns.
+I was able at last to have a good look at our prisoner.
+
+It was a tremendously virile and yet sinister face which was
+turned towards us.  With the brow of a philosopher above and the
+jaw of a sensualist below, the man must have started with great
+capacities for good or for evil.  But one could not look upon his
+cruel blue eyes, with their drooping, cynical lids, or upon the
+fierce, aggressive nose and the threatening, deep-lined brow,
+without reading Nature's plainest danger-signals.  He took no heed
+of any of us, but his eyes were fixed upon Holmes's face with an
+expression in which hatred and amazement were equally blended.
+"You fiend!" he kept on muttering.  "You clever, clever fiend!"
+
+"Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar;
+"`journeys end in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says.
+I don't think I have had the pleasure of seeing you since you
+favoured me with those attentions as I lay on the ledge above
+the Reichenbach Fall."
+
+The Colonel still stared at my friend like a man in a trance.
+"You cunning, cunning fiend!" was all that he could say.
+
+"I have not introduced you yet," said Holmes.  "This, gentlemen,
+is Colonel Sebastian Moran, once of Her Majesty's Indian Army,
+and the best heavy game shot that our Eastern Empire has ever
+produced.  I believe I am correct, Colonel, in saying that your
+bag of tigers still remains unrivalled?"
+
+The fierce old man said nothing, but still glared at my companion;
+with his savage eyes and bristling moustache he was wonderfully
+like a tiger himself.
+
+"I wonder that my very simple stratagem could deceive so old
+a shikari," said Holmes.  "It must be very familiar to you.
+Have you not tethered a young kid under a tree, lain above it
+with your rifle, and waited for the bait to bring up your tiger?
+This empty house is my tree and you are my tiger.  You have
+possibly had other guns in reserve in case there should be
+several tigers, or in the unlikely supposition of your own aim
+failing you.  These," he pointed around, "are my other guns.
+The parallel is exact."
+
+Colonel Moran sprang forward, with a snarl of rage, but the
+constables dragged him back.  The fury upon his face was
+terrible to look at.
+
+"I confess that you had one small surprise for me," said Holmes.
+"I did not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this
+empty house and this convenient front window.  I had imagined
+you as operating from the street, where my friend Lestrade and
+his merry men were awaiting you.  With that exception all has
+gone as I expected."
+
+Colonel Moran turned to the official detective.
+
+"You may or may not have just cause for arresting me," said he,
+"but at least there can be no reason why I should submit to the
+gibes of this person.  If I am in the hands of the law let
+things be done in a legal way."
+
+"Well, that's reasonable enough," said Lestrade.  "Nothing
+further you have to say, Mr. Holmes, before we go?"
+
+Holmes had picked up the powerful air-gun from the floor and
+was examining its mechanism.
+
+"An admirable and unique weapon," said he, "noiseless and of
+tremendous power.  I knew Von Herder, the blind German mechanic,
+who constructed it to the order of the late Professor Moriarty.
+For years I have been aware of its existence, though I have
+never before had the opportunity of handling it.  I commend it
+very specially to your attention, Lestrade, and also the bullets
+which fit it."
+
+"You can trust us to look after that, Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade,
+as the whole party moved towards the door.  "Anything further to say?"
+
+"Only to ask what charge you intend to prefer?"
+
+"What charge, sir?  Why, of course, the attempted murder of Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes."
+
+"Not so, Lestrade.  I do not propose to appear in the matter at all.
+To you, and to you only, belongs the credit of the remarkable arrest
+which you have effected.  Yes, Lestrade, I congratulate you!  With
+your usual happy mixture of cunning and audacity you have got him."
+
+"Got him!  Got whom, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"The man that the whole force has been seeking in vain --
+Colonel Sebastian Moran, who shot the Honourable Ronald Adair
+with an expanding bullet from an air-gun through the open window
+of the second-floor front of No. 427, Park Lane, upon the 30th
+of last month.  That's the charge, Lestrade.  And now, Watson,
+if you can endure the draught from a broken window, I think that
+half an hour in my study over a cigar may afford you some
+profitable amusement."
+
+
+Our old chambers had been left unchanged through the supervision
+of Mycroft Holmes and the immediate care of Mrs. Hudson.
+As I entered I saw, it is true, an unwonted tidiness, but the old
+landmarks were all in their place.  There were the chemical
+corner and the acid-stained, deal-topped table.  There upon a
+shelf was the row of formidable scrap-books and books of reference
+which many of our fellow-citizens would have been so glad to burn.
+The diagrams, the violin-case, and the pipe-rack -- even the
+Persian slipper which contained the tobacco -- all met my eyes
+as I glanced round me.  There were two occupants of the room --
+one Mrs. Hudson, who beamed upon us both as we entered;
+the other the strange dummy which had played so important a part in
+the evening's adventures.  It was a wax-coloured model of my friend,
+so admirably done that it was a perfect facsimile.  It stood on a
+small pedestal table with an old dressing-gown of Holmes's so draped
+round it that the illusion from the street was absolutely perfect.
+
+"I hope you preserved all precautions, Mrs. Hudson?"  said Holmes.
+
+"I went to it on my knees, sir, just as you told me."
+
+"Excellent.  You carried the thing out very well.  Did you observe
+where the bullet went?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I'm afraid it has spoilt your beautiful bust, for it
+passed right through the head and flattened itself on the wall.
+I picked it up from the carpet.  Here it is!"
+
+Holmes held it out to me.  "A soft revolver bullet, as you
+perceive, Watson.  There's genius in that, for who would expect
+to find such a thing fired from an air-gun.  All right, Mrs.
+Hudson, I am much obliged for your assistance.  And now, Watson,
+let me see you in your old seat once more, for there are
+several points which I should like to discuss with you."
+
+He had thrown off the seedy frock-coat, and now he was the
+Holmes of old in the mouse-coloured dressing-gown which he took
+from his effigy.
+
+"The old shikari's nerves have not lost their steadiness nor his
+eyes their keenness," said he, with a laugh, as he inspected the
+shattered forehead of his bust.
+
+"Plumb in the middle of the back of the head and smack through
+the brain.  He was the best shot in India, and I expect that
+there are few better in London.  Have you heard the name?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Well, well, such is fame!  But, then, if I remember aright,
+you had not heard the name of Professor James Moriarty, who had
+one of the great brains of the century.  Just give me down my
+index of biographies from the shelf."
+
+He turned over the pages lazily, leaning back in his chair and
+blowing great clouds from his cigar.
+
+"My collection of M's is a fine one," said he.
+"Moriarty himself is enough to make any letter illustrious,
+and here is Morgan the poisoner, and Merridew of abominable memory,
+and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting-room
+at Charing Cross, and, finally, here is our friend of to-night."
+
+He handed over the book, and I read:
+"MORAN, SEBASTIAN, COLONEL.  Unemployed.  Formerly 1st Bengalore
+Pioneers.  Born London, 1840.  Son of Sir Augustus Moran, C.B.,
+once British Minister to Persia.  Educated Eton and Oxford.
+Served in Jowaki Campaign, Afghan Campaign, Charasiab (despatches),
+Sherpur, and Cabul.  Author of `Heavy Game of the Western Himalayas,'
+1881; `Three Months in the Jungle,' 1884.  Address:  Conduit Street.
+Clubs:  The Anglo-Indian, the Tankerville, the Bagatelle Card Club."
+
+On the margin was written, in Holmes's precise hand:
+"The second most dangerous man in London."
+
+"This is astonishing," said I, as I handed back the volume.
+"The man's career is that of an honourable soldier."
+
+"It is true," Holmes answered.  "Up to a certain point he did
+well.  He was always a man of iron nerve, and the story is still
+told in India how he crawled down a drain after a wounded
+man-eating tiger.  There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a
+certain height and then suddenly develop some unsightly
+eccentricity.  You will see it often in humans.  I have a theory
+that the individual represents in his development the whole
+procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good
+or evil stands for some strong influence which came into the
+line of his pedigree.  The person becomes, as it were, the
+epitome of the history of his own family."
+
+"It is surely rather fanciful."
+
+"Well, I don't insist upon it.  Whatever the cause, Colonel
+Moran began to go wrong.  Without any open scandal, he still made
+India too hot to hold him.  He retired, came to London, and
+again acquired an evil name.  It was at this time that he was
+sought out by Professor Moriarty, to whom for a time he was
+chief of the staff.  Moriarty supplied him liberally with money
+and used him only in one or two very high-class jobs which no
+ordinary criminal could have undertaken.  You may have some
+recollection of the death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887.
+Not?  Well, I am sure Moran was at the bottom of it; but nothing
+could be proved.  So cleverly was the Colonel concealed that
+even when the Moriarty gang was broken up we could not
+incriminate him.  You remember at that date, when I called upon
+you in your rooms, how I put up the shutters for fear of
+air-guns?  No doubt you thought me fanciful.  I knew exactly
+what I was doing, for I knew of the existence of this remarkable
+gun, and I knew also that one of the best shots in the world
+would be behind it.  When we were in Switzerland he followed us
+with Moriarty, and it was undoubtedly he who gave me that evil
+five minutes on the Reichenbach ledge.
+
+"You may think that I read the papers with some attention during
+my sojourn in France, on the look-out for any chance of laying
+him by the heels.  So long as he was free in London my life
+would really not have been worth living.  Night and day the
+shadow would have been over me, and sooner or later his chance
+must have come.  What could I do?  I could not shoot him at
+sight, or I should myself be in the dock.  There was no use
+appealing to a magistrate.  They cannot interfere on the
+strength of what would appear to them to be a wild suspicion.
+So I could do nothing.  But I watched the criminal news, knowing
+that sooner or later I should get him.  Then came the death of
+this Ronald Adair.  My chance had come at last!  Knowing what I
+did, was it not certain that Colonel Moran had done it?  He had
+played cards with the lad; he had followed him home from the
+club; he had shot him through the open window.  There was not a
+doubt of it.  The bullets alone are enough to put his head in a
+noose.  I came over at once.  I was seen by the sentinel, who
+would, I knew, direct the Colonel's attention to my presence. He
+could not fail to connect my sudden return with his crime and to
+be terribly alarmed.  I was sure that he would make an attempt
+to get me out of the way AT ONCE, and would bring round his
+murderous weapon for that purpose.  I left him an excellent mark
+in the window, and, having warned the police that they might be
+needed -- by the way, Watson, you spotted their presence in that
+doorway with unerring accuracy -- I took up what seemed to me to
+be a judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he
+would choose the same spot for his attack.  Now, my dear Watson,
+does anything remain for me to explain?"
+
+"Yes," said I.  "You have not made it clear what was Colonel
+Moran's motive in murdering the Honourable Ronald Adair."
+
+"Ah!  my dear Watson, there we come into those realms of
+conjecture where the most logical mind may be at fault.
+Each may form his own hypothesis upon the present evidence,
+and yours is as likely to be correct as mine."
+
+"You have formed one, then?"
+
+"I think that it is not difficult to explain the facts.
+It came out in evidence that Colonel Moran and young Adair had
+between them won a considerable amount of money.  Now, Moran
+undoubtedly played foul -- of that I have long been aware.
+I believe that on the day of the murder Adair had discovered that
+Moran was cheating.  Very likely he had spoken to him privately,
+and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily resigned
+his membership of the club and promised not to play cards again.
+It is unlikely that a youngster like Adair would at once make a
+hideous scandal by exposing a well-known man so much older than
+himself.  Probably he acted as I suggest.  The exclusion from
+his clubs would mean ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten
+card gains.  He therefore murdered Adair, who at the time was
+endeavouring to work out how much money he should himself return,
+since he could not profit by his partner's foul play.  He locked
+the door lest the ladies should surprise him and insist upon knowing
+what he was doing with these names and coins.  Will it pass?"
+
+"I have no doubt that you have hit upon the truth."
+
+"It will be verified or disproved at the trial.  Meanwhile,
+come what may, Colonel Moran will trouble us no more, the famous
+air-gun of Von Herder will embellish the Scotland Yard Museum,
+and once again Mr. Sherlock Holmes is free to devote his life to
+examining those interesting little problems which the complex
+life of London so plentifully presents."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  NOVEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+II. -- The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
+
+
+"FROM the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr.
+Sherlock Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting
+city since the death of the late lamented Professor Moriarty."
+
+"I can hardly think that you would find many decent citizens
+to agree with you," I answered.
+
+"Well, well, I must not be selfish," said he, with a smile,
+as he pushed back his chair from the breakfast-table.
+"The community is certainly the gainer, and no one the loser,
+save the poor out-of-work specialist, whose occupation has gone.
+With that man in the field one's morning paper presented
+infinite possibilities.  Often it was only the smallest trace,
+Watson, the faintest indication, and yet it was enough to tell
+me that the great malignant brain was there, as the gentlest
+tremors of the edges of the web remind one of the foul spider
+which lurks in the centre.  Petty thefts, wanton assaults,
+purposeless outrage -- to the man who held the clue all could
+be worked into one connected whole.  To the scientific student
+of the higher criminal world no capital in Europe offered
+the advantages which London then possessed.  But now ----"
+He shrugged his shoulders in humorous deprecation of the state
+of things which he had himself done so much to produce.
+
+At the time of which I speak Holmes had been back for some months,
+and I, at his request, had sold my practice and returned to share
+the old quarters in Baker Street.  A young doctor, named Verner,
+had purchased my small Kensington practice, and given with
+astonishingly little demur the highest price that I ventured to
+ask -- an incident which only explained itself some years later
+when I found that Verner was a distant relation of Holmes's, and
+that it was my friend who had really found the money.
+
+Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had
+stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period
+includes the case of the papers of Ex-President Murillo, and
+also the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship FRIESLAND, which
+so nearly cost us both our lives.  His cold and proud nature was
+always averse, however, to anything in the shape of public applause,
+and he bound me in the most stringent terms to say no further word
+of himself, his methods, or his successes -- a prohibition which,
+as I have explained, has only now been removed.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes was leaning back in his chair after his
+whimsical protest, and was unfolding his morning paper in a
+leisurely fashion, when our attention was arrested by a
+tremendous ring at the bell, followed immediately by a hollow
+drumming sound, as if someone were beating on the outer door
+with his fist.  As it opened there came a tumultuous rush into
+the hall, rapid feet clattered up the stair, and an instant
+later a wild-eyed and frantic young man, pale, dishevelled,
+and palpitating, burst into the room.  He looked from one to the
+other of us, and under our gaze of inquiry he became conscious
+that some apology was needed for this unceremonious entry.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes," he cried.  "You mustn't blame me.
+I am nearly mad.  Mr. Holmes, I am the unhappy John Hector McFarlane."
+
+He made the announcement as if the name alone would explain both
+his visit and its manner; but I could see by my companion's
+unresponsive face that it meant no more to him than to me.
+
+"Have a cigarette, Mr. McFarlane," said he, pushing his case across.
+"I am sure that with your symptoms my friend Dr. Watson here would
+prescribe a sedative.  The weather has been so very warm these
+last few days.  Now, if you feel a little more composed, I should
+be glad if you would sit down in that chair and tell us very slowly
+and quietly who you are and what it is that you want.  You mentioned
+your name as if I should recognise it, but I assure you that,
+beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor,
+a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you."
+
+Familiar as I was with my friend's methods, it was not difficult
+for me to follow his deductions, and to observe the untidiness of
+attire, the sheaf of legal papers, the watch-charm, and the breathing
+which had prompted them.  Our client, however, stared in amazement.
+
+"Yes, I am all that, Mr. Holmes, and in addition I am the most
+unfortunate man at this moment in London.  For Heaven's sake
+don't abandon me, Mr. Holmes!  If they come to arrest me before
+I have finished my story, make them give me time so that I may
+tell you the whole truth.  I could go to gaol happy if I knew
+that you were working for me outside."
+
+"Arrest you!" said Holmes.  "This is really most grati -- most
+interesting.  On what charge do you expect to be arrested?"
+
+"Upon the charge of murdering Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood."
+
+My companion's expressive face showed a sympathy which was not,
+I am afraid, entirely unmixed with satisfaction.
+
+"Dear me," said he; "it was only this moment at breakfast that
+I was saying to my friend, Dr. Watson, that sensational cases had
+disappeared out of our papers."
+
+Our visitor stretched forward a quivering hand and picked up the
+DAILY TELEGRAPH, which still lay upon Holmes's knee.
+
+"If you had looked at it, sir, you would have seen at a glance
+what the errand is on which I have come to you this morning.
+I feel as if my name and my misfortune must be in every man's
+mouth."  He turned it over to expose the central page.  "Here it
+is, and with your permission I will read it to you.  Listen to
+this, Mr. Holmes.  The head-lines are:  `Mysterious Affair at
+Lower Norwood.  Disappearance of a Well-known Builder.  Suspicion
+of Murder and Arson.  A Clue to the Criminal.'  That is the clue
+which they are already following, Mr. Holmes, and I know that it
+leads infallibly to me.  I have been followed from London Bridge
+Station, and I am sure that they are only waiting for the warrant
+to arrest me.  It will break my mother's heart -- it will break
+her heart!"  He wrung his hands in an agony of apprehension,
+and swayed backwards and forwards in his chair.
+
+I looked with interest upon this man, who was accused of being
+the perpetrator of a crime of violence.  He was flaxen-haired
+and handsome in a washed-out negative fashion, with frightened
+blue eyes and a clean-shaven face, with a weak, sensitive mouth.
+His age may have been about twenty-seven; his dress and bearing
+that of a gentleman.  From the pocket of his light summer
+overcoat protruded the bundle of endorsed papers which
+proclaimed his profession.
+
+"We must use what time we have," said Holmes.  "Watson, would
+you have the kindness to take the paper and to read me the
+paragraph in question?"
+
+Underneath the vigorous head-lines which our client had quoted
+I read the following suggestive narrative:---
+
+
+Late last night, or early this morning, an incident occurred
+at Lower Norwood which points, it is feared, to a serious crime.
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre is a well-known resident of that suburb,
+where he has carried on his business as a builder for many years.
+Mr. Oldacre is a bachelor, fifty-two years of age, and lives in
+Deep Dene House, at the Sydenham end of the road of that name.
+He has had the reputation of being a man of eccentric habits,
+secretive and retiring.  For some years he has practically
+withdrawn from the business, in which he is said to have amassed
+considerable wealth.  A small timber-yard still exists, however,
+at the back of the house, and last night, about twelve o'clock,
+an alarm was given that one of the stacks was on fire.  The
+engines were soon upon the spot, but the dry wood burned with
+great fury, and it was impossible to arrest the conflagration
+until the stack had been entirely consumed.  Up to this point
+the incident bore the appearance of an ordinary accident, but
+fresh indications seem to point to serious crime.  Surprise was
+expressed at the absence of the master of the establishment from
+the scene of the fire, and an inquiry followed, which showed
+that he had disappeared from the house.  An examination of his
+room revealed that the bed had not been slept in, that a safe
+which stood in it was open, that a number of important papers
+were scattered about the room, and, finally, that there were
+signs of a murderous struggle, slight traces of blood being
+found within the room, and an oaken walking-stick, which also
+showed stains of blood upon the handle.  It is known that Mr.
+Jonas Oldacre had received a late visitor in his bedroom upon
+that night, and the stick found has been identified as the
+property of this person, who is a young London solicitor named
+John Hector McFarlane, junior partner of Graham and McFarlane,
+of 426, Gresham Buildings, E.C.  The police believe that they
+have evidence in their possession which supplies a very
+convincing motive for the crime, and altogether it cannot
+be doubted that sensational developments will follow.
+
+LATER. -- It is rumoured as we go to press that Mr. John Hector
+McFarlane has actually been arrested on the charge of the murder
+of Mr. Jonas Oldacre.  It is at least certain that a warrant has
+been issued.  There have been further and sinister developments
+in the investigation at Norwood.  Besides the signs of a
+struggle in the room of the unfortunate builder it is now known
+that the French windows of his bedroom (which is on the ground
+floor) were found to be open, that there were marks as if some
+bulky object had been dragged across to the wood-pile, and,
+finally, it is asserted that charred remains have been found
+among the charcoal ashes of the fire.  The police theory is that
+a most sensational crime has been committed, that the victim was
+clubbed to death in his own bedroom, his papers rifled, and his
+dead body dragged across to the wood-stack, which was then
+ignited so as to hide all traces of the crime.  The conduct of
+the criminal investigation has been left in the experienced
+hands of Inspector Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, who is following
+up the clues with his accustomed energy and sagacity.
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with closed eyes and finger-tips
+together to this remarkable account.
+
+"The case has certainly some points of interest," said he,
+in his languid fashion.  "May I ask, in the first place,
+Mr. McFarlane, how it is that you are still at liberty, since
+there appears to be enough evidence to justify your arrest?"
+
+"I live at Torrington Lodge, Blackheath, with my parents,
+Mr. Holmes; but last night, having to do business very late
+with Mr. Jonas Oldacre, I stayed at an hotel in Norwood, and
+came to my business from there.  I knew nothing of this affair
+until I was in the train, when I read what you have just heard.
+I at once saw the horrible danger of my position, and I hurried
+to put the case into your hands.  I have no doubt that I should
+have been arrested either at my City office or at my home.
+A man followed me from London Bridge Station, and I have no
+doubt --- Great Heaven, what is that?"
+
+It was a clang of the bell, followed instantly by heavy steps
+upon the stair.  A moment later our old friend Lestrade
+appeared in the doorway.  Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse
+of one or two uniformed policemen outside.
+
+"Mr. John Hector McFarlane?" said Lestrade.
+
+Our unfortunate client rose with a ghastly face.
+
+"I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre,
+of Lower Norwood."
+
+McFarlane turned to us with a gesture of despair, and sank into
+his chair once more like one who is crushed.
+
+"One moment, Lestrade," said Holmes.  "Half an hour more or less
+can make no difference to you, and the gentleman was about to
+give us an account of this very interesting affair, which might
+aid us in clearing it up."
+
+"I think there will be no difficulty in clearing it up,"
+said Lestrade, grimly.
+
+"None the less, with your permission, I should be much
+interested to hear his account."
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, it is difficult for me to refuse you anything,
+for you have been of use to the force once or twice in the past,
+and we owe you a good turn at Scotland Yard," said Lestrade.
+"At the same time I must remain with my prisoner, and I am
+bound to warn him that anything he may say will appear in
+evidence against him."
+
+"I wish nothing better," said our client.  "All I ask is that
+you should hear and recognise the absolute truth."
+
+Lestrade looked at his watch.  "I'll give you half an hour,"
+said he.
+
+"I must explain first," said McFarlane, "that I knew nothing of
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre.  His name was familiar to me, for many years
+ago my parents were acquainted with him, but they drifted apart.
+I was very much surprised, therefore, when yesterday, about
+three o'clock in the afternoon, he walked into my office in the
+City.  But I was still more astonished when he told me the object
+of his visit.  He had in his hand several sheets of a note-book,
+covered with scribbled writing -- here they are -- and he laid
+them on my table.
+
+"`Here is my will,' said he. `I want you, Mr. McFarlane, to cast
+it into proper legal shape.  I will sit here while you do so.'
+
+"I set myself to copy it, and you can imagine my astonishment
+when I found that, with some reservations, he had left all his
+property to me.  He was a strange little, ferret-like man, with
+white eyelashes, and when I looked up at him I found his keen
+grey eyes fixed upon me with an amused expression.  I could
+hardly believe my own senses as I read the terms of the will;
+but he explained that he was a bachelor with hardly any living
+relation, that he had known my parents in his youth, and that he
+had always heard of me as a very deserving young man, and was
+assured that his money would be in worthy hands.  Of course,
+I could only stammer out my thanks.  The will was duly finished,
+signed, and witnessed by my clerk.  This is it on the blue paper,
+and these slips, as I have explained, are the rough draft.
+Mr. Jonas Oldacre then informed me that there were a number of
+documents -- building leases, title-deeds, mortgages, scrip,
+and so forth -- which it was necessary that I should see
+and understand.  He said that his mind would not be easy until
+the whole thing was settled, and he begged me to come out to his
+house at Norwood that night, bringing the will with me, and to
+arrange matters.  `Remember, my boy, not one word to your
+parents about the affair until everything is settled.  We will
+keep it as a little surprise for them.'  He was very insistent
+upon this point, and made me promise it faithfully.
+
+"You can imagine, Mr. Holmes, that I was not in a humour to
+refuse him anything that he might ask.  He was my benefactor,
+and all my desire was to carry out his wishes in every particular.
+I sent a telegram home, therefore, to say that I had important
+business on hand, and that it was impossible for me to say how
+late I might be.  Mr. Oldacre had told me that he would like me
+to have supper with him at nine, as he might not be home before
+that hour.  I had some difficulty in finding his house, however,
+and it was nearly half-past before I reached it.  I found him ---"
+
+"One moment!" said Holmes.  "Who opened the door?"
+
+"A middle-aged woman, who was, I suppose, his housekeeper."
+
+"And it was she, I presume, who mentioned your name?"
+
+"Exactly," said McFarlane.
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+McFarlane wiped his damp brow and then continued his narrative:--
+
+"I was shown by this woman into a sitting-room, where a frugal
+supper was laid out.  Afterwards Mr. Jonas Oldacre led me into
+his bedroom, in which there stood a heavy safe.  This he opened
+and took out a mass of documents, which we went over together.
+It was between eleven and twelve when we finished.  He remarked
+that we must not disturb the housekeeper.  He showed me out
+through his own French window, which had been open all this time."
+
+"Was the blind down?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I will not be sure, but I believe that it was only half down.
+Yes, I remember how he pulled it up in order to swing open the
+window.  I could not find my stick, and he said, `Never mind, my
+boy; I shall see a good deal of you now, I hope, and I will keep
+your stick until you come back to claim it.'  I left him there,
+the safe open, and the papers made up in packets upon the table.
+It was so late that I could not get back to Blackheath, so I
+spent the night at the Anerley Arms, and I knew nothing more
+until I read of this horrible affair in the morning."
+
+"Anything more that you would like to ask, Mr. Holmes?"
+said Lestrade, whose eyebrows had gone up once or twice
+during this remarkable explanation.
+
+"Not until I have been to Blackheath."
+
+"You mean to Norwood," said Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, yes; no doubt that is what I must have meant," said Holmes,
+with his enigmatical smile.  Lestrade had learned by more
+experiences than he would care to acknowledge that that
+razor-like brain could cut through that which was impenetrable
+to him.  I saw him look curiously at my companion.
+
+"I think I should like to have a word with you presently,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said he.  "Now, Mr. McFarlane, two of
+my constables are at the door and there is a four-wheeler
+waiting."  The wretched young man arose, and with a last
+beseeching glance at us walked from the room.  The officers
+conducted him to the cab, but Lestrade remained.
+
+Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the rough draft
+of the will, and was looking at them with the keenest interest
+upon his face.
+
+"There are some points about that document, Lestrade, are there
+not?" said he, pushing them over.
+
+The official looked at them with a puzzled expression.
+
+"I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of
+the second page, and one or two at the end.  Those are as clear
+as print," said he; "but the writing in between is very bad,
+and there are three places where I cannot read it at all."
+
+"What do you make of that?" said Holmes.
+
+"Well, what do YOU make of it?"
+
+"That it was written in a train; the good writing represents
+stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing
+passing over points.  A scientific expert would pronounce at
+once that this was drawn up on a suburban line, since nowhere
+save in the immediate vicinity of a great city could there be so
+quick a succession of points.  Granting that his whole journey
+was occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
+express, only stopping once between Norwood and London Bridge."
+
+Lestrade began to laugh.
+
+"You are too many for me when you begin to get on your theories,
+Mr. Holmes," said he.  "How does this bear on the case?"
+
+"Well, it corroborates the young man's story to the extent that
+the will was drawn up by Jonas Oldacre in his journey yesterday.
+It is curious -- is it not? -- that a man should draw up so
+important a document in so haphazard a fashion.  It suggests
+that he did not think it was going to be of much practical
+importance.  If a man drew up a will which he did not intend
+ever to be effective he might do it so."
+
+"Well, he drew up his own death-warrant at the same time,"
+said Lestrade.
+
+"Oh, you think so?"
+
+"Don't you?"
+
+"Well, it is quite possible; but the case is not clear to me yet."
+
+"Not clear?  Well, if that isn't clear, what COULD be clear?
+Here is a young man who learns suddenly that if a certain older
+man dies he will succeed to a fortune.  What does he do?
+He says nothing to anyone, but he arranges that he shall go out
+on some pretext to see his client that night; he waits until
+the only other person in the house is in bed, and then in the
+solitude of a man's room he murders him, burns his body in the
+wood-pile, and departs to a neighbouring hotel.  The blood-stains
+in the room and also on the stick are very slight.  It is probable
+that he imagined his crime to be a bloodless one, and hoped that
+if the body were consumed it would hide all traces of the method
+of his death -- traces which for some reason must have pointed
+to him.  Is all this not obvious?"
+
+"It strikes me, my good Lestrade, as being just a trifle too
+obvious," said Holmes.  "You do not add imagination to your
+other great qualities; but if you could for one moment put
+yourself in the place of this young man, would you choose the
+very night after the will had been made to commit your crime?
+Would it not seem dangerous to you to make so very close a
+relation between the two incidents?  Again, would you choose
+an occasion when you are known to be in the house, when a servant
+has let you in?  And, finally, would you take the great pains
+to conceal the body and yet leave your own stick as a sign
+that you were the criminal?  Confess, Lestrade, that all this
+is very unlikely."
+
+"As to the stick, Mr. Holmes, you know as well as I do that
+a criminal is often flurried and does things which a cool man
+would avoid.  He was very likely afraid to go back to the room.
+Give me another theory that would fit the facts."
+
+"I could very easily give you half-a-dozen," said Holmes.
+"Here, for example, is a very possible and even probable one.
+I make you a free present of it.  The older man is showing
+documents which are of evident value.  A passing tramp sees
+them through the window, the blind of which is only half down.
+Exit the solicitor.  Enter the tramp!  He seizes a stick,
+which he observes there, kills Oldacre, and departs after
+burning the body."
+
+"Why should the tramp burn the body?"
+
+"For the matter of that why should McFarlane?"
+
+"To hide some evidence."
+
+"Possibly the tramp wanted to hide that any murder at all had
+been committed."
+
+"And why did the tramp take nothing?"
+
+"Because they were papers that he could not negotiate."
+
+Lestrade shook his head, though it seemed to me that his manner
+was less absolutely assured than before.
+
+"Well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you may look for your tramp,
+and while you are finding him we will hold on to our man.
+The future will show which is right.  Just notice this point,
+Mr. Holmes:  that so far as we know none of the papers were
+removed, and that the prisoner is the one man in the world who
+had no reason for removing them, since he was heir-at-law and
+would come into them in any case."
+
+My friend seemed struck by this remark.
+
+"I don't mean to deny that the evidence is in some ways very
+strongly in favour of your theory," said he.  "I only wish to
+point out that there are other theories possible.  As you say,
+the future will decide.  Good morning!  I dare say that in the
+course of the day I shall drop in at Norwood and see how you
+are getting on."
+
+When the detective departed my friend rose and made his
+preparations for the day's work with the alert air of a man who
+has a congenial task before him.
+
+"My first movement, Watson," said he, as he bustled into his
+frock-coat, "must, as I said, be in the direction of Blackheath."
+
+"And why not Norwood?"
+
+"Because we have in this case one singular incident coming close
+to the heels of another singular incident.  The police are
+making the mistake of concentrating their attention upon the
+second, because it happens to be the one which is actually
+criminal.  But it is evident to me that the logical way to
+approach the case is to begin by trying to throw some light upon
+the first incident -- the curious will, so suddenly made, and to
+so unexpected an heir.  It may do something to simplify what
+followed.  No, my dear fellow, I don't think you can help me.
+There is no prospect of danger, or I should not dream of
+stirring out without you.  I trust that when I see you in the
+evening I will be able to report that I have been able to do
+something for this unfortunate youngster who has thrown himself
+upon my protection."
+
+It was late when my friend returned, and I could see by a glance
+at his haggard and anxious face that the high hopes with which
+he had started had not been fulfilled.  For an hour he droned
+away upon his violin, endeavouring to soothe his own ruffled
+spirits.  At last he flung down the instrument and plunged into
+a detailed account of his misadventures.
+
+"It's all going wrong, Watson -- all as wrong as it can go.
+I kept a bold face before Lestrade, but, upon my soul, I believe
+that for once the fellow is on the right track and we are on the
+wrong.  All my instincts are one way and all the facts are the
+other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet attained
+that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to
+my theories over Lestrade's facts."
+
+"Did you go to Blackheath?"
+
+"Yes, Watson, I went there, and I found very quickly that the
+late lamented Oldacre was a pretty considerable black-guard.
+The father was away in search of his son.  The mother was at
+home -- a little, fluffy, blue-eyed person, in a tremor of fear
+and indignation.  Of course, she would not admit even the
+possibility of his guilt.  But she would not express either
+surprise or regret over the fate of Oldacre.  On the contrary,
+she spoke of him with such bitterness that she was unconsciously
+considerably strengthening the case of the police, for, of course,
+if her son had heard her speak of the man in this fashion it would
+predispose him towards hatred and violence.  `He was more like
+a malignant and cunning ape than a human being,' said she,
+`and he always was, ever since he was a young man.'
+
+"`You knew him at that time?' said I.
+
+"`Yes, I knew him well; in fact, he was an old suitor of mine.
+Thank Heaven that I had the sense to turn away from him and
+to marry a better, if a poorer, man.  I was engaged to him,
+Mr. Holmes, when I heard a shocking story of how he had turned
+a cat loose in an aviary, and I was so horrified at his brutal
+cruelty that I would have nothing more to do with him.'
+She rummaged in a bureau, and presently she produced a photograph
+of a woman, shamefully defaced and mutilated with a knife.
+`That is my own photograph,' she said.  `He sent it to me in
+that state, with his curse, upon my wedding morning.'
+
+"`Well,' said I, `at least he has forgiven you now, since he has
+left all his property to your son.'
+
+"`Neither my son nor I want anything from Jonas Oldacre, dead
+or alive,' she cried, with a proper spirit.  `There is a God
+in Heaven, Mr. Holmes, and that same God who has punished that
+wicked man will show in His own good time that my son's hands
+are guiltless of his blood.'
+
+"Well, I tried one or two leads, but could get at nothing which
+would help our hypothesis, and several points which would make
+against it.  I gave it up at last and off I went to Norwood.
+
+"This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring
+brick, standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped
+lawn in front of it.  To the right and some distance back from
+the road was the timber-yard which had been the scene of the
+fire.  Here's a rough plan on a leaf of my note-book.  This
+window on the left is the one which opens into Oldacre's room.
+You can look into it from the road, you see.  That is about the
+only bit of consolation I have had to-day.  Lestrade was not
+there, but his head constable did the honours.  They had just
+made a great treasure-trove.  They had spent the morning raking
+among the ashes of the burned wood-pile, and besides the charred
+organic remains they had secured several discoloured metal
+discs.  I examined them with care, and there was no doubt that
+they were trouser buttons.  I even distinguished that one of
+them was marked with the name of `Hyams,' who was Oldacre's
+tailor.  I then worked the lawn very carefully for signs and
+traces, but this drought has made everything as hard as iron.
+Nothing was to be seen save that some body or bundle had been
+dragged through a low privet hedge which is in a line with the
+wood-pile.  All that, of course, fits in with the official
+theory.  I crawled about the lawn with an August sun on my back,
+but I got up at the end of an hour no wiser than before.
+
+"Well, after this fiasco I went into the bedroom and examined
+that also.  The blood-stains were very slight, mere smears and
+discolorations, but undoubtedly fresh.  The stick had been removed,
+but there also the marks were slight.  There is no doubt about
+the stick belonging to our client.  He admits it.  Footmarks of
+both men could be made out on the carpet, but none of any third
+person, which again is a trick for the other side.  They were
+piling up their score all the time and we were at a standstill.
+
+"Only one little gleam of hope did I get -- and yet it amounted
+to nothing.  I examined the contents of the safe, most of which
+had been taken out and left on the table.  The papers had been
+made up into sealed envelopes, one or two of which had been
+opened by the police.  They were not, so far as I could judge,
+of any great value, nor did the bank-book show that Mr. Oldacre
+was in such very affluent circumstances.  But it seemed to me
+that all the papers were not there.  There were allusions to
+some deeds -- possibly the more valuable -- which I could not
+find.  This, of course, if we could definitely prove it, would
+turn Lestrade's argument against himself, for who would steal
+a thing if he knew that he would shortly inherit it?
+
+"Finally, having drawn every other cover and picked up no scent,
+I tried my luck with the housekeeper.  Mrs. Lexington is her
+name, a little, dark, silent person, with suspicious and
+sidelong eyes.  She could tell us something if she would --
+I am convinced of it.  But she was as close as wax.  Yes, she
+had let Mr. McFarlane in at half-past nine.  She wished her
+hand had withered before she had done so.  She had gone to bed at
+half-past ten.  Her room was at the other end of the house, and
+she could hear nothing of what passed.  Mr. McFarlane had left
+his hat, and to the best of her belief his stick, in the hall.
+She had been awakened by the alarm of fire.  Her poor, dear
+master had certainly been murdered.  Had he any enemies?
+Well, every man had enemies, but Mr. Oldacre kept himself very
+much to himself, and only met people in the way of business.
+She had seen the buttons, and was sure that they belonged to the
+clothes which he had worn last night.  The wood-pile was very dry,
+for it had not rained for a month.  It burned like tinder, and by
+the time she reached the spot nothing could be seen but flames.
+She and all the firemen smelled the burned flesh from inside it.
+She knew nothing of the papers, nor of Mr. Oldacre's private affairs.
+
+"So, my dear Watson, there's my report of a failure.  And yet --
+and yet ---" -- he clenched his thin hands in a paroxysm of
+conviction -- "I KNOW it's all wrong.  I feel it in my bones.
+There is something that has not come out, and that housekeeper
+knows it.  There was a sort of sulky defiance in her eyes, which
+only goes with guilty knowledge.  However, there's no good
+talking any more about it, Watson; but unless some lucky chance
+comes our way I fear that the Norwood Disappearance Case will
+not figure in that chronicle of our successes which I foresee
+that a patient public will sooner or later have to endure."
+
+"Surely," said I, "the man's appearance would go far with any jury?"
+
+"That is a dangerous argument, my dear Watson.  You remember that
+terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in '87?
+Was there ever a more mild-mannered, Sunday-school young man?"
+
+"It is true."
+
+"Unless we succeed in establishing an alternative theory this
+man is lost.  You can hardly find a flaw in the case which can
+now be presented against him, and all further investigation has
+served to strengthen it.  By the way, there is one curious
+little point about those papers which may serve us as the
+starting-point for an inquiry.  On looking over the bank-book
+I found that the low state of the balance was principally due
+to large cheques which have been made out during the last year
+to Mr. Cornelius.  I confess that I should be interested to know
+who this Mr. Cornelius may be with whom a retired builder has
+such very large transactions.  Is it possible that he has had
+a hand in the affair?  Cornelius might be a broker, but we have
+found no scrip to correspond with these large payments.  Failing
+any other indication my researches must now take the direction
+of an inquiry at the bank for the gentleman who has cashed these
+cheques.  But I fear, my dear fellow, that our case will end
+ingloriously by Lestrade hanging our client, which will
+certainly be a triumph for Scotland Yard."
+
+I do not know how far Sherlock Holmes took any sleep that night,
+but when I came down to breakfast I found him pale and harassed,
+his bright eyes the brighter for the dark shadows round them.
+The carpet round his chair was littered with cigarette-ends and
+with the early editions of the morning papers.  An open telegram
+lay upon the table.
+
+"What do you think of this, Watson?" he asked, tossing it across.
+
+It was from Norwood, and ran as follows:--
+
+"IMPORTANT FRESH EVIDENCE TO HAND.  MCFARLANE'S GUILT DEFINITELY
+ESTABLISHED.  ADVISE YOU TO ABANDON CASE. -- LESTRADE."
+
+"This sounds serious," said I.
+
+"It is Lestrade's little cock-a-doodle of victory," Holmes answered,
+with a bitter smile.  "And yet it may be premature to abandon the
+case.  After all, important fresh evidence is a two-edged thing,
+and may possibly cut in a very different direction to that which
+Lestrade imagines.  Take your breakfast, Watson, and we will go out
+together and see what we can do.  I feel as if I shall need your
+company and your moral support to-day."
+
+My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his
+peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit
+himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron
+strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.  "At present
+I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion," he would
+say in answer to my medical remonstrances.  I was not surprised,
+therefore, when this morning he left his untouched meal behind
+him and started with me for Norwood.  A crowd of morbid
+sightseers were still gathered round Deep Dene House, which was
+just such a suburban villa as I had pictured.  Within the gates
+Lestrade met us, his face flushed with victory, his manner
+grossly triumphant.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you proved us to be wrong yet?  Have you
+found your tramp?" he cried.
+
+"I have formed no conclusion whatever," my companion answered.
+
+"But we formed ours yesterday, and now it proves to be correct;
+so you must acknowledge that we have been a little in front of
+you this time, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You certainly have the air of something unusual having occurred,"
+said Holmes.
+
+Lestrade laughed loudly.
+
+"You don't like being beaten any more than the rest of us do,"
+said he.  "A man can't expect always to have it his own way,
+can he, Dr. Watson?  Step this way, if you please, gentlemen,
+and I think I can convince you once for all that it was
+John McFarlane who did this crime."
+
+He led us through the passage and out into a dark hall beyond.
+
+"This is where young McFarlane must have come out to get his hat
+after the crime was done," said he.  "Now, look at this."  With
+dramatic suddenness he struck a match and by its light exposed
+a stain of blood upon the whitewashed wall.  As he held the
+match nearer I saw that it was more than a stain.  It was the
+well-marked print of a thumb.
+
+"Look at that with your magnifying glass, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Yes, I am doing so."
+
+"You are aware that no two thumb marks are alike?"
+
+"I have heard something of the kind."
+
+"Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax
+impression of young McFarlane's right thumb, taken by my orders
+this morning?"
+
+As he held the waxen print close to the blood-stain it did not
+take a magnifying glass to see that the two were undoubtedly
+from the same thumb.  It was evident to me that our unfortunate
+client was lost.
+
+"That is final," said Lestrade.
+
+"Yes, that is final," I involuntarily echoed.
+
+"It is final," said Holmes.
+
+Something in his tone caught my ear, and I turned to look at
+him.  An extraordinary change had come over his face.  It was
+writhing with inward merriment.  His two eyes were shining like
+stars.  It seemed to me that he was making desperate efforts to
+restrain a convulsive attack of laughter.
+
+"Dear me!  Dear me!" he said at last.  "Well, now, who would
+have thought it?  And how deceptive appearances may be, to be
+sure!  Such a nice young man to look at!  It is a lesson to us
+not to trust our own judgment, is it not, Lestrade?"
+
+"Yes, some of us are a little too much inclined to be cocksure,
+Mr. Holmes," said Lestrade.  The man's insolence was maddening,
+but we could not resent it.
+
+"What a providential thing that this young man should press his
+right thumb against the wall in taking his hat from the peg!
+Such a very natural action, too, if you come to think of it."
+Holmes was outwardly calm, but his whole body gave a wriggle
+of suppressed excitement as he spoke.  "By the way, Lestrade,
+who made this remarkable discovery?"
+
+"It was the housekeeper, Mrs. Lexington, who drew the night
+constable's attention to it."
+
+"Where was the night constable?"
+
+"He remained on guard in the bedroom where the crime was
+committed, so as to see that nothing was touched."
+
+"But why didn't the police see this mark yesterday?"
+
+"Well, we had no particular reason to make a careful examination
+of the hall.  Besides, it's not in a very prominent place,
+as you see."
+
+"No, no, of course not.  I suppose there is no doubt that the
+mark was there yesterday?"
+
+Lestrade looked at Holmes as if he thought he was going out of
+his mind.  I confess that I was myself surprised both at his
+hilarious manner and at his rather wild observation.
+
+"I don't know whether you think that McFarlane came out of gaol
+in the dead of the night in order to strengthen the evidence
+against himself," said Lestrade.  "I leave it to any expert in
+the world whether that is not the mark of his thumb."
+
+"It is unquestionably the mark of his thumb."
+
+"There, that's enough," said Lestrade.  "I am a practical man,
+Mr. Holmes, and when I have got my evidence I come to my
+conclusions.  If you have anything to say you will find me
+writing my report in the sitting-room."
+
+Holmes had recovered his equanimity, though I still seemed to
+detect gleams of amusement in his expression.
+
+"Dear me, this is a very sad development, Watson, is it not?"
+said he.  "And yet there are singular points about it which
+hold out some hopes for our client."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," said I, heartily.  "I was afraid
+it was all up with him."
+
+"I would hardly go so far as to say that, my dear Watson.
+The fact is that there is one really serious flaw in this
+evidence to which our friend attaches so much importance."
+
+"Indeed, Holmes!  What is it?"
+
+"Only this:  that I KNOW that that mark was not there when
+I examined the hall yesterday.  And now, Watson, let us have
+a little stroll round in the sunshine."
+
+With a confused brain, but with a heart into which some warmth
+of hope was returning, I accompanied my friend in a walk round
+the garden.  Holmes took each face of the house in turn and
+examined it with great interest.  He then led the way inside and
+went over the whole building from basement to attics.  Most of
+the rooms were unfurnished, but none the less Holmes inspected
+them all minutely.  Finally, on the top corridor, which ran
+outside three untenanted bedrooms, he again was seized with
+a spasm of merriment.
+
+"There are really some very unique features about this case,
+Watson," said he.  "I think it is time now that we took our
+friend Lestrade into our confidence.  He has had his little
+smile at our expense, and perhaps we may do as much by him if
+my reading of this problem proves to be correct.  Yes, yes;
+I think I see how we should approach it."
+
+The Scotland Yard inspector was still writing in the parlour
+when Holmes interrupted him.
+
+"I understood that you were writing a report of this case," said he.
+
+"So I am."
+
+"Don't you think it may be a little premature?  I can't help
+thinking that your evidence is not complete."
+
+Lestrade knew my friend too well to disregard his words.
+He laid down his pen and looked curiously at him.
+
+"What do you mean, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Only that there is an important witness whom you have not seen."
+
+"Can you produce him?"
+
+"I think I can."
+
+"Then do so."
+
+"I will do my best.  How many constables have you?"
+
+"There are three within call."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes.  "May I ask if they are all large,
+able-bodied men with powerful voices?"
+
+"I have no doubt they are, though I fail to see what their
+voices have to do with it."
+
+"Perhaps I can help you to see that and one or two other things
+as well," said Holmes.  "Kindly summon your men, and I will try."
+
+Five minutes later three policemen had assembled in the hall.
+
+"In the outhouse you will find a considerable quantity of straw,"
+said Holmes.  "I will ask you to carry in two bundles of it.
+I think it will be of the greatest assistance in producing the
+witness whom I require.  Thank you very much.  I believe you
+have some matches in your pocket, Watson.  Now, Mr. Lestrade,
+I will ask you all to accompany me to the top landing."
+
+As I have said, there was a broad corridor there, which ran outside
+three empty bedrooms.  At one end of the corridor we were all
+marshalled by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade
+staring at my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision
+chasing each other across his features.  Holmes stood before us
+with the air of a conjurer who is performing a trick.
+
+"Would you kindly send one of your constables for two buckets
+of water?  Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall
+on either side.  Now I think that we are all ready."
+
+Lestrade's face had begun to grow red and angry.
+
+"I don't know whether you are playing a game with us,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said he.  "If you know anything,
+you can surely say it without all this tomfoolery."
+
+"I assure you, my good Lestrade, that I have an excellent reason
+for everything that I do.  You may possibly remember that you
+chaffed me a little some hours ago, when the sun seemed on your
+side of the hedge, so you must not grudge me a little pomp and
+ceremony now.  Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window,
+and then to put a match to the edge of the straw?"
+
+I did so, and, driven by the draught, a coil of grey smoke swirled
+down the corridor, while the dry straw crackled and flamed.
+
+"Now we must see if we can find this witness for you, Lestrade.
+Might I ask you all to join in the cry of `Fire!'?  Now, then;
+one, two, three ---"
+
+"Fire!" we all yelled.
+
+"Thank you.  I will trouble you once again."
+
+"Fire!"
+
+"Just once more, gentlemen, and all together."
+
+"Fire!"  The shout must have rung over Norwood.
+
+It had hardly died away when an amazing thing happened.  A door
+suddenly flew open out of what appeared to be solid wall at the
+end of the corridor, and a little, wizened man darted out of it,
+like a rabbit out of its burrow.
+
+"Capital!" said Holmes, calmly.  "Watson, a bucket of water over
+the straw.  That will do!  Lestrade, allow me to present you
+with your principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre."
+
+The detective stared at the new-comer with blank amazement.
+The latter was blinking in the bright light of the corridor,
+and peering at us and at the smouldering fire.  It was an odious
+face -- crafty, vicious, malignant, with shifty, light-grey eyes
+and white eyelashes.
+
+"What's this, then?" said Lestrade at last.  "What have you
+been doing all this time, eh?"
+
+Oldacre gave an uneasy laugh, shrinking back from the furious
+red face of the angry detective.
+
+"I have done no harm."
+
+"No harm?  You have done your best to get an innocent man hanged.
+If it wasn't for this gentleman here, I am not sure that you
+would not have succeeded."
+
+The wretched creature began to whimper.
+
+"I am sure, sir, it was only my practical joke."
+
+"Oh! a joke, was it?  You won't find the laugh on your side,
+I promise you.  Take him down and keep him in the sitting-room
+until I come.  Mr. Holmes," he continued, when they had gone,
+"I could not speak before the constables, but I don't mind saying,
+in the presence of Dr. Watson, that this is the brightest thing
+that you have done yet, though it is a mystery to me how you did
+it.  You have saved an innocent man's life, and you have
+prevented a very grave scandal, which would have ruined my
+reputation in the Force."
+
+Holmes smiled and clapped Lestrade upon the shoulder.
+
+"Instead of being ruined, my good sir, you will find that
+your reputation has been enormously enhanced.  Just make
+a few alterations in that report which you were writing,
+and they will understand how hard it is to throw dust
+in the eyes of Inspector Lestrade."
+
+"And you don't want your name to appear?"
+
+"Not at all.  The work is its own reward.  Perhaps I shall get
+the credit also at some distant day when I permit my zealous
+historian to lay out his foolscap once more -- eh, Watson?
+Well, now, let us see where this rat has been lurking."
+
+A lath-and-plaster partition had been run across the passage
+six feet from the end, with a door cunningly concealed in it.
+It was lit within by slits under the eaves.  A few articles of
+furniture and a supply of food and water were within, together
+with a number of books and papers.
+
+"There's the advantage of being a builder," said Holmes,
+as we came out.  "He was able to fix up his own little
+hiding-place without any confederate -- save, of course,
+that precious housekeeper of his, whom I should lose no
+time in adding to your bag, Lestrade."
+
+"I'll take your advice.  But how did you know of this place,
+Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I made up my mind that the fellow was in hiding in the house.
+When I paced one corridor and found it six feet shorter than
+the corresponding one below, it was pretty clear where he was.
+I thought he had not the nerve to lie quiet before an alarm of
+fire.  We could, of course, have gone in and taken him, but it
+amused me to make him reveal himself; besides, I owed you a
+little mystification, Lestrade, for your chaff in the morning."
+
+"Well, sir, you certainly got equal with me on that.  But how
+in the world did you know that he was in the house at all?"
+
+"The thumb-mark, Lestrade.  You said it was final; and so it was,
+in a very different sense.  I knew it had not been there the day
+before.  I pay a good deal of attention to matters of detail,
+as you may have observed, and I had examined the hall and was
+sure that the wall was clear.  Therefore, it had been put on
+during the night."
+
+"But how?"
+
+"Very simply.  When those packets were sealed up, Jonas Oldacre
+got McFarlane to secure one of the seals by putting his thumb
+upon the soft wax.  It would be done so quickly and so naturally
+that I dare say the young man himself has no recollection of it.
+Very likely it just so happened, and Oldacre had himself no
+notion of the use he would put it to.  Brooding over the case in
+that den of his, it suddenly struck him what absolutely damning
+evidence he could make against McFarlane by using that thumb-mark.
+It was the simplest thing in the world for him to take a wax
+impression from the seal, to moisten it in as much blood as he
+could get from a pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall
+during the night, either with his own hand or with that of his
+housekeeper.  If you examine among those documents which he took
+with him into his retreat I will lay you a wager that you find
+the seal with the thumb-mark upon it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said Lestrade.  "Wonderful!  It's all as clear as
+crystal, as you put it.  But what is the object of this deep
+deception, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+It was amusing to me to see how the detective's overbearing
+manner had changed suddenly to that of a child asking questions
+of its teacher.
+
+"Well, I don't think that is very hard to explain.  A very deep,
+malicious, vindictive person is the gentleman who is now awaiting
+us downstairs.  You know that he was once refused by McFarlane's
+mother?  You don't!  I told you that you should go to Blackheath
+first and Norwood afterwards.  Well, this injury, as he would
+consider it, has rankled in his wicked, scheming brain, and all
+his life he has longed for vengeance, but never seen his chance.
+During the last year or two things have gone against him --
+secret speculation, I think -- and he finds himself in a bad way.
+He determines to swindle his creditors, and for this purpose he
+pays large cheques to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I imagine,
+himself under another name.  I have not traced these cheques yet,
+but I have no doubt that they were banked under that name at some
+provincial town where Oldacre from time to time led a double
+existence.  He intended to change his name altogether, draw this
+money, and vanish, starting life again elsewhere."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough."
+
+"It would strike him that in disappearing he might throw all
+pursuit off his track, and at the same time have an ample and
+crushing revenge upon his old sweetheart, if he could give the
+impression that he had been murdered by her only child.  It was
+a masterpiece of villainy, and he carried it out like a master.
+The idea of the will, which would give an obvious motive for the
+crime, the secret visit unknown to his own parents, the retention
+of the stick, the blood, and the animal remains and buttons in the
+wood-pile, all were admirable.  It was a net from which it seemed
+to me a few hours ago that there was no possible escape.  But he
+had not that supreme gift of the artist, the knowledge of when to
+stop.  He wished to improve that which was already perfect --
+to draw the rope tighter yet round the neck of his unfortunate
+victim -- and so he ruined all.  Let us descend, Lestrade.
+There are just one or two questions that I would ask him."
+
+The malignant creature was seated in his own parlour with a
+policeman upon each side of him.
+
+"It was a joke, my good sir, a practical joke, nothing more,"
+he whined incessantly.  "I assure you, sir, that I simply
+concealed myself in order to see the effect of my disappearance,
+and I am sure that you would not be so unjust as to imagine that
+I would have allowed any harm to befall poor young Mr. McFarlane."
+
+"That's for a jury to decide," said Lestrade.  "Anyhow, we shall
+have you on a charge of conspiracy, if not for attempted murder."
+
+"And you'll probably find that your creditors will impound the
+banking account of Mr. Cornelius," said Holmes.
+
+The little man started and turned his malignant eyes upon my friend.
+
+"I have to thank you for a good deal," said he.  "Perhaps I'll
+pay my debt some day."
+
+Holmes smiled indulgently.
+
+"I fancy that for some few years you will find your time very
+fully occupied," said he.  "By the way, what was it you put into
+the wood-pile besides your old trousers?  A dead dog, or rabbits,
+or what?  You won't tell?  Dear me, how very unkind of you!
+Well, well, I dare say that a couple of rabbits would account
+both for the blood and for the charred ashes.  If ever you write
+an account, Watson, you can make rabbits serve your turn."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 26  DECEMBER, 1903
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+III. --- The Adventure of the Dancing Men.
+
+
+HOLMES had been seated for some hours in silence with his long,
+thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing
+a particularly malodorous product.  His head was sunk upon his
+breast, and he looked from my point of view like a strange,
+lank bird, with dull grey plumage and a black top-knot.
+
+"So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest
+in South African securities?"
+
+I gave a start of astonishment.  Accustomed as I was to Holmes's
+curious faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate
+thoughts was utterly inexplicable.
+
+"How on earth do you know that?" I asked.
+
+He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube
+in his hand and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes.
+
+"Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback," said he.
+
+"I am."
+
+"I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so
+absurdly simple."
+
+"I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind."
+
+"You see, my dear Watson" -- he propped his test-tube in the
+rack and began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing
+his class -- "it is not really difficult to construct a series
+of inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each
+simple in itself.  If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all
+the central inferences and presents one's audience with the
+starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling,
+though possibly a meretricious, effect.  Now, it was not really
+difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left
+forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did NOT propose
+to invest your small capital in the goldfields."
+
+"I see no connection."
+
+"Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection.
+Here are the missing links of the very simple chain:  1. You had
+chalk between your left finger and thumb when you returned from the
+club last night.  2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to
+steady the cue.  3. You never play billiards except with Thurston.
+4. You told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option on some
+South African property which would expire in a month, and which he
+desired you to share with him.  5. Your cheque-book is locked in my
+drawer, and you have not asked for the key.  6. You do not propose
+to invest your money in this manner."
+
+"How absurdly simple!" I cried.
+
+"Quite so!" said he, a little nettled.  "Every problem becomes
+very childish when once it is explained to you.  Here is an
+unexplained one.  See what you can make of that, friend Watson."
+He tossed a sheet of paper upon the table and turned once more
+to his chemical analysis.
+
+I looked with amazement at the absurd hieroglyphics upon the paper.
+
+"Why, Holmes, it is a child's drawing," I cried.
+
+"Oh, that's your idea!"
+
+"What else should it be?"
+
+"That is what Mr. Hilton Cubitt, of Riding Thorpe Manor, Norfolk,
+is very anxious to know.  This little conundrum came by the first
+post, and he was to follow by the next train.  There's a ring at the
+bell, Watson.  I should not be very much surprised if this were he."
+
+A heavy step was heard upon the stairs, and an instant later
+there entered a tall, ruddy, clean-shaven gentleman, whose clear
+eyes and florid cheeks told of a life led far from the fogs of
+Baker Street.  He seemed to bring a whiff of his strong, fresh,
+bracing, east-coast air with him as he entered.  Having shaken
+hands with each of us, he was about to sit down when his eye
+rested upon the paper with the curious markings, which I had
+just examined and left upon the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, what do you make of these?" he cried.
+"They told me that you were fond of queer mysteries, and I don't
+think you can find a queerer one than that.  I sent the paper on
+ahead so that you might have time to study it before I came."
+
+"It is certainly rather a curious production," said Holmes.
+"At first sight it would appear to be some childish prank.
+It consists of a number of absurd little figures dancing across
+the paper upon which they are drawn.  Why should you attribute
+any importance to so grotesque an object?"
+
+"I never should, Mr. Holmes.  But my wife does.  It is frightening
+her to death.  She says nothing, but I can see terror in her eyes.
+That's why I want to sift the matter to the bottom."
+
+Holmes held up the paper so that the sunlight shone full upon it.
+It was a page torn from a note-book.  The markings were done in
+pencil, and ran in this way:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes examined it for some time, and then, folding it carefully up,
+he placed it in his pocket-book.
+
+"This promises to be a most interesting and unusual case," said he.
+"You gave me a few particulars in your letter, Mr. Hilton Cubitt,
+but I should be very much obliged if you would kindly go over it
+all again for the benefit of my friend, Dr. Watson."
+
+"I'm not much of a story-teller," said our visitor, nervously
+clasping and unclasping his great, strong hands.  "You'll just
+ask me anything that I don't make clear.  I'll begin at the time
+of my marriage last year; but I want to say first of all that,
+though I'm not a rich man, my people have been at Ridling Thorpe
+for a matter of five centuries, and there is no better known
+family in the County of Norfolk.  Last year I came up to London
+for the Jubilee, and I stopped at a boarding-house in Russell
+Square, because Parker, the vicar of our parish, was staying in
+it.  There was an American young lady there -- Patrick was the
+name -- Elsie Patrick.  In some way we became friends, until
+before my month was up I was as much in love as a man could be.
+We were quietly married at a registry office, and we returned to
+Norfolk a wedded couple.  You'll think it very mad, Mr. Holmes,
+that a man of a good old family should marry a wife in this
+fashion, knowing nothing of her past or of her people; but if
+you saw her and knew her it would help you to understand.
+
+"She was very straight about it, was Elsie.  I can't say
+that she did not give me every chance of getting out of it
+if I wished to do so.  `I have had some very disagreeable
+associations in my life,' said she; `I wish to forget all about
+them.  I would rather never allude to the past, for it is very
+painful to me.  If you take me, Hilton, you will take a woman who
+has nothing that she need be personally ashamed of; but you will
+have to be content with my word for it, and to allow me to be
+silent as to all that passed up to the time when I became yours.
+If these conditions are too hard, then go back to Norfolk and
+leave me to the lonely life in which you found me.'  It was only
+the day before our wedding that she said those very words to me.
+I told her that I was content to take her on her own terms, and
+I have been as good as my word.
+
+"Well, we have been married now for a year, and very happy we
+have been.  But about a month ago, at the end of June, I saw
+for the first time signs of trouble.  One day my wife received
+a letter from America.  I saw the American stamp.  She turned
+deadly white, read the letter, and threw it into the fire.
+She made no allusion to it afterwards, and I made none, for a
+promise is a promise; but she has never known an easy hour from
+that moment.  There is always a look of fear upon her face --
+a look as if she were waiting and expecting.  She would do
+better to trust me.  She would find that I was her best friend.
+But until she speaks I can say nothing.  Mind you, she is a
+truthful woman, Mr. Holmes, and whatever trouble there may have
+been in her past life it has been no fault of hers.  I am only
+a simple Norfolk squire, but there is not a man in England who
+ranks his family honour more highly than I do.  She knows it well,
+and she knew it well before she married me.  She would never
+bring any stain upon it -- of that I am sure.
+
+"Well, now I come to the queer part of my story.  About a week
+ago -- it was the Tuesday of last week -- I found on one of the
+window-sills a number of absurd little dancing figures, like
+these upon the paper.  They were scrawled with chalk.  I thought
+that it was the stable-boy who had drawn them, but the lad swore
+he knew nothing about it.  Anyhow, they had come there during
+the night.  I had them washed out, and I only mentioned the
+matter to my wife afterwards.  To my surprise she took it very
+seriously, and begged me if any more came to let her see them.
+None did come for a week, and then yesterday morning I found
+this paper lying on the sun-dial in the garden.  I showed it to
+Elsie, and down she dropped in a dead faint.  Since then she has
+looked like a woman in a dream, half dazed, and with terror
+always lurking in her eyes.  It was then that I wrote and sent
+the paper to you, Mr. Holmes.  It was not a thing that I could
+take to the police, for they would have laughed at me, but you
+will tell me what to do.  I am not a rich man; but if there is
+any danger threatening my little woman I would spend my last
+copper to shield her."
+
+He was a fine creature, this man of the old English soil,
+simple, straight, and gentle, with his great, earnest blue eyes
+and broad, comely face.  His love for his wife and his trust in
+her shone in his features.  Holmes had listened to his story
+with the utmost attention, and now he sat for some time in
+silent thought.
+
+"Don't you think, Mr. Cubitt," said he, at last, "that your best
+plan would be to make a direct appeal to your wife, and to ask
+her to share her secret with you?"
+
+Hilton Cubitt shook his massive head.
+
+"A promise is a promise, Mr. Holmes.  If Elsie wished to tell
+me she would.  If not, it is not for me to force her confidence.
+But I am justified in taking my own line -- and I will."
+
+"Then I will help you with all my heart.  In the first place,
+have you heard of any strangers being seen in your neighbourhood?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I presume that it is a very quiet place.  Any fresh face would
+cause comment?"
+
+"In the immediate neighbourhood, yes.  But we have several small
+watering-places not very far away.  And the farmers take in lodgers."
+
+"These hieroglyphics have evidently a meaning.  If it is a
+purely arbitrary one it may be impossible for us to solve it.
+If, on the other hand, it is systematic, I have no doubt that
+we shall get to the bottom of it.  But this particular sample
+is so short that I can do nothing, and the facts which you have
+brought me are so indefinite that we have no basis for an
+investigation.  I would suggest that you return to Norfolk,
+that you keep a keen look-out, and that you take an exact copy
+of any fresh dancing men which may appear.  It is a thousand
+pities that we have not a reproduction of those which were done
+in chalk upon the window-sill.  Make a discreet inquiry also as
+to any strangers in the neighbourhood.  When you have collected
+some fresh evidence come to me again.  That is the best advice
+which I can give you, Mr. Hilton Cubitt.  If there are any
+pressing fresh developments I shall be always ready to run down
+and see you in your Norfolk home."
+
+The interview left Sherlock Holmes very thoughtful, and several
+times in the next few days I saw him take his slip of paper from
+his note-book and look long and earnestly at the curious figures
+inscribed upon it.  He made no allusion to the affair, however,
+until one afternoon a fortnight or so later.  I was going out
+when he called me back.
+
+"You had better stay here, Watson."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I had a wire from Hilton Cubitt this morning -- you
+remember Hilton Cubitt, of the dancing men?  He was to reach
+Liverpool Street at one-twenty.  He may be here at any moment.
+I gather from his wire that there have been some new incidents
+of importance."
+
+We had not long to wait, for our Norfolk squire came straight from
+the station as fast as a hansom could bring him.  He was looking
+worried and depressed, with tired eyes and a lined forehead.
+
+"It's getting on my nerves, this business, Mr. Holmes," said he,
+as he sank, like a wearied man, into an arm-chair.  "It's bad
+enough to feel that you are surrounded by unseen, unknown folk,
+who have some kind of design upon you; but when, in addition to
+that, you know that it is just killing your wife by inches, then
+it becomes as much as flesh and blood can endure.  She's wearing
+away under it -- just wearing away before my eyes."
+
+"Has she said anything yet?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she has not.  And yet there have been times
+when the poor girl has wanted to speak, and yet could not quite
+bring herself to take the plunge.  I have tried to help her;
+but I dare say I did it clumsily, and scared her off from it.
+She has spoken about my old family, and our reputation in the county,
+and our pride in our unsullied honour, and I always felt it was
+leading to the point; but somehow it turned off before we got there."
+
+"But you have found out something for yourself?"
+
+"A good deal, Mr. Holmes. I have several fresh dancing men
+pictures for you to examine, and, what is more important,
+I have seen the fellow."
+
+"What, the man who draws them?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him at his work.  But I will tell you everything
+in order.  When I got back after my visit to you, the very first
+thing I saw next morning was a fresh crop of dancing men.
+They had been drawn in chalk upon the black wooden door of the
+tool-house, which stands beside the lawn in full view of the
+front windows.  I took an exact copy, and here it is."
+He unfolded a paper and laid it upon the table.  Here is a copy
+of the hieroglyphics:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes.  "Excellent!  Pray continue."
+
+"When I had taken the copy I rubbed out the marks;
+but two mornings later a fresh inscription had appeared.
+I have a copy of it here":--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands and chuckled with delight.
+
+"Our material is rapidly accumulating," said he.
+
+"Three days later a message was left scrawled upon paper,
+and placed under a pebble upon the sun-dial.  Here it is.
+The characters are, as you see, exactly the same as the last one.
+After that I determined to lie in wait; so I got out my revolver
+and I sat up in my study, which overlooks the lawn and garden.
+About two in the morning I was seated by the window, all being
+dark save for the moonlight outside, when I heard steps behind
+me, and there was my wife in her dressing-gown.  She implored me
+to come to bed.  I told her frankly that I wished to see who it
+was who played such absurd tricks upon us.  She answered that it
+was some senseless practical joke, and that I should not take
+any notice of it.
+
+"`If it really annoys you, Hilton, we might go and travel,
+you and I, and so avoid this nuisance.'
+
+"`What, be driven out of our own house by a practical joker?'
+said I. `Why, we should have the whole county laughing at us.'
+
+"`Well, come to bed,' said she, `and we can discuss it
+in the morning.'
+
+"Suddenly, as she spoke, I saw her white face grow whiter yet
+in the moonlight, and her hand tightened upon my shoulder.
+Something was moving in the shadow of the tool-house.  I saw a
+dark, creeping figure which crawled round the corner and
+squatted in front of the door.  Seizing my pistol I was rushing
+out, when my wife threw her arms round me and held me with
+convulsive strength.  I tried to throw her off, but she clung
+to me most desperately.  At last I got clear, but by the time
+I had opened the door and reached the house the creature was gone.
+He had left a trace of his presence, however, for there on the
+door was the very same arrangement of dancing men which had
+already twice appeared, and which I have copied on that paper.
+There was no other sign of the fellow anywhere, though I ran all
+over the grounds.  And yet the amazing thing is that he must have
+been there all the time, for when I examined the door again in
+the morning he had scrawled some more of his pictures under the
+line which I had already seen."
+
+"Have you that fresh drawing?"
+
+"Yes; it is very short, but I made a copy of it, and here it is."
+
+Again he produced a paper.  The new dance was in this form:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Tell me," said Holmes -- and I could see by his eyes that
+he was much excited -- "was this a mere addition to the first,
+or did it appear to be entirely separate?"
+
+"It was on a different panel of the door."
+
+"Excellent!  This is far the most important of all for our
+purpose.  It fills me with hopes.  Now, Mr. Hilton Cubitt,
+please continue your most interesting statement."
+
+"I have nothing more to say, Mr. Holmes, except that I was angry
+with my wife that night for having held me back when I might
+have caught the skulking rascal.  She said that she feared that
+I might come to harm.  For an instant it had crossed my mind
+that perhaps what she really feared was that HE might come to
+harm, for I could not doubt that she knew who this man was and
+what he meant by these strange signals.  But there is a tone in
+my wife's voice, Mr. Holmes, and a look in her eyes which forbid
+doubt, and I am sure that it was indeed my own safety that was
+in her mind.  There's the whole case, and now I want your advice
+as to what I ought to do.  My own inclination is to put
+half-a-dozen of my farm lads in the shrubbery, and when this
+fellow comes again to give him such a hiding that he will leave
+us in peace for the future."
+
+"I fear it is too deep a case for such simple remedies,"
+said Holmes.  "How long can you stay in London?"
+
+"I must go back to-day.  I would not leave my wife alone all night
+for anything.  She is very nervous and begged me to come back."
+
+"I dare say you are right.  But if you could have stopped I
+might possibly have been able to return with you in a day or
+two.  Meanwhile you will leave me these papers, and I think
+that it is very likely that I shall be able to pay you a visit
+shortly and to throw some light upon your case."
+
+Sherlock Holmes preserved his calm professional manner until our
+visitor had left us, although it was easy for me, who knew him
+so well, to see that he was profoundly excited.  The moment that
+Hilton Cubitt's broad back had disappeared through the door my
+comrade rushed to the table, laid out all the slips of paper
+containing dancing men in front of him, and threw himself into
+an intricate and elaborate calculation.  For two hours I watched
+him as he covered sheet after sheet of paper with figures and
+letters, so completely absorbed in his task that he had
+evidently forgotten my presence.  Sometimes he was making
+progress and whistled and sang at his work; sometimes he was
+puzzled, and would sit for long spells with a furrowed brow and
+a vacant eye.  Finally he sprang from his chair with a cry of
+satisfaction, and walked up and down the room rubbing his hands
+together.  Then he wrote a long telegram upon a cable form.  "If
+my answer to this is as I hope, you will have a very pretty case
+to add to your collection, Watson," said he.  "I expect that we
+shall be able to go down to Norfolk to-morrow, and to take our
+friend some very definite news as to the secret of his annoyance."
+
+I confess that I was filled with curiosity, but I was aware that
+Holmes liked to make his disclosures at his own time and in his
+own way; so I waited until it should suit him to take me into
+his confidence.
+
+But there was a delay in that answering telegram, and two days
+of impatience followed, during which Holmes pricked up his ears
+at every ring of the bell.  On the evening of the second there
+came a letter from Hilton Cubitt.  All was quiet with him,
+save that a long inscription had appeared that morning upon the
+pedestal of the sun-dial.  He inclosed a copy of it, which is
+here reproduced:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Holmes bent over this grotesque frieze for some minutes,
+and then suddenly sprang to his feet with an exclamation
+of surprise and dismay.  His face was haggard with anxiety.
+
+"We have let this affair go far enough," said he.
+"Is there a train to North Walsham to-night?"
+
+I turned up the time-table.  The last had just gone.
+
+"Then we shall breakfast early and take the very first in the
+morning," said Holmes.  "Our presence is most urgently needed.
+Ah! here is our expected cablegram.  One moment, Mrs. Hudson;
+there may be an answer.  No, that is quite as I expected.
+This message makes it even more essential that we should not
+lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how matters stand,
+for it is a singular and a dangerous web in which our simple
+Norfolk squire is entangled."
+
+So, indeed, it proved, and as I come to the dark conclusion of
+a story which had seemed to me to be only childish and bizarre
+I experience once again the dismay and horror with which I was
+filled.  Would that I had some brighter ending to communicate
+to my readers, but these are the chronicles of fact, and I must
+follow to their dark crisis the strange chain of events which
+for some days made Ridling Thorpe Manor a household word through
+the length and breadth of England.
+
+We had hardly alighted at North Walsham, and mentioned the name
+of our destination, when the station-master hurried towards us.
+"I suppose that you are the detectives from London?" said he.
+
+A look of annoyance passed over Holmes's face.
+
+"What makes you think such a thing?"
+
+"Because Inspector Martin from Norwich has just passed through.
+But maybe you are the surgeons.  She's not dead -- or wasn't by
+last accounts.  You may be in time to save her yet -- though it
+be for the gallows."
+
+Holmes's brow was dark with anxiety.
+
+"We are going to Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he, "but we have
+heard nothing of what has passed there."
+
+"It's a terrible business," said the station-master.  "They are
+shot, both Mr. Hilton Cubitt and his wife.  She shot him and
+then herself -- so the servants say.  He's dead and her life
+is despaired of.  Dear, dear, one of the oldest families in the
+County of Norfolk, and one of the most honoured."
+
+Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long
+seven miles' drive he never opened his mouth.  Seldom have I
+seen him so utterly despondent.  He had been uneasy during all
+our journey from town, and I had observed that he had turned
+over the morning papers with anxious attention; but now this
+sudden realization of his worst fears left him in a blank
+melancholy. He leaned back in his seat, lost in gloomy
+speculation.  Yet there was much around to interest us,
+for we were passing through as singular a country-side as
+any in England, where a few scattered cottages represented
+the population of to-day, while on every hand enormous
+square-towered churches bristled up from the flat, green
+landscape and told of the glory and prosperity of old East
+Anglia.  At last the violet rim of the German Ocean appeared
+over the green edge of the Norfolk coast, and the driver pointed
+with his whip to two old brick and timber gables which projected
+from a grove of trees.  "That's Ridling Thorpe Manor," said he.
+
+As we drove up to the porticoed front door I observed in front
+of it, beside the tennis lawn, the black tool-house and the
+pedestalled sun-dial with which we had such strange associations.
+A dapper little man, with a quick, alert manner and a waxed
+moustache, had just descended from a high dog-cart.
+He introduced himself as Inspector Martin, of the Norfolk
+Constabulary, and he was considerably astonished when he heard
+the name of my companion.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, the crime was only committed at three this
+morning.  How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot
+as soon as I?"
+
+"I anticipated it.  I came in the hope of preventing it."
+
+"Then you must have important evidence of which we are ignorant,
+for they were said to be a most united couple."
+
+"I have only the evidence of the dancing men," said Holmes.
+"I will explain the matter to you later.  Meanwhile, since it
+is too late to prevent this tragedy, I am very anxious that I
+should use the knowledge which I possess in order to ensure that
+justice be done.  Will you associate me in your investigation,
+or will you prefer that I should act independently?"
+
+"I should be proud to feel that we were acting together,
+Mr. Holmes," said the inspector, earnestly.
+
+"In that case I should be glad to hear the evidence and to
+examine the premises without an instant of unnecessary delay."
+
+Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do
+things in his own fashion, and contented himself with carefully
+noting the results.  The local surgeon, an old, white-haired
+man, had just come down from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt's room, and he
+reported that her injuries were serious, but not necessarily
+fatal.  The bullet had passed through the front of her brain,
+and it would probably be some time before she could regain
+consciousness.  On the question of whether she had been shot or
+had shot herself he would not venture to express any decided
+opinion.  Certainly the bullet had been discharged at very close
+quarters.  There was only the one pistol found in the room,
+two barrels of which had been emptied.  Mr. Hilton Cubitt had
+been shot through the heart.  It was equally conceivable that he
+had shot her and then himself, or that she had been the criminal,
+for the revolver lay upon the floor midway between them.
+
+"Has he been moved?" asked Holmes.
+
+"We have moved nothing except the lady.  We could not leave her
+lying wounded upon the floor."
+
+"How long have you been here, doctor?"
+
+"Since four o'clock."
+
+"Anyone else?"
+
+"Yes, the constable here."
+
+"And you have touched nothing?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"You have acted with great discretion.  Who sent for you?"
+
+"The housemaid, Saunders."
+
+"Was it she who gave the alarm?"
+
+"She and Mrs. King, the cook."
+
+"Where are they now?"
+
+"In the kitchen, I believe."
+
+"Then I think we had better hear their story at once."
+
+The old hall, oak-panelled and high-windowed, had been turned
+into a court of investigation.  Holmes sat in a great,
+old-fashioned chair, his inexorable eyes gleaming out of his
+haggard face.  I could read in them a set purpose to devote his
+life to this quest until the client whom he had failed to save
+should at last be avenged.  The trim Inspector Martin, the old,
+grey-headed country doctor, myself, and a stolid village
+policeman made up the rest of that strange company.
+
+The two women told their story clearly enough.  They had been
+aroused from their sleep by the sound of an explosion, which had
+been followed a minute later by a second one.  They slept in
+adjoining rooms, and Mrs. King had rushed in to Saunders.
+Together they had descended the stairs.  The door of the study
+was open and a candle was burning upon the table.  Their master
+lay upon his face in the centre of the room.  He was quite dead.
+Near the window his wife was crouching, her head leaning against
+the wall.  She was horribly wounded, and the side of her face
+was red with blood.  She breathed heavily, but was incapable of
+saying anything.  The passage, as well as the room, was full of
+smoke and the smell of powder.  The window was certainly shut
+and fastened upon the inside.  Both women were positive upon
+the point.  They had at once sent for the doctor and for the
+constable.  Then, with the aid of the groom and the stable-boy,
+they had conveyed their injured mistress to her room.  Both she
+and her husband had occupied the bed.  She was clad in her dress
+-- he in his dressing-gown, over his night clothes.  Nothing had
+been moved in the study.  So far as they knew there had never
+been any quarrel between husband and wife.  They had always
+looked upon them as a very united couple.
+
+These were the main points of the servants' evidence.  In answer
+to Inspector Martin they were clear that every door was fastened
+upon the inside, and that no one could have escaped from the
+house.  In answer to Holmes they both remembered that they were
+conscious of the smell of powder from the moment that they ran
+out of their rooms upon the top floor.  "I commend that fact
+very carefully to your attention," said Holmes to his
+professional colleague.  "And now I think that we are in a
+position to undertake a thorough examination of the room."
+
+The study proved to be a small chamber, lined on three sides
+with books, and with a writing-table facing an ordinary window,
+which looked out upon the garden.  Our first attention was given
+to the body of the unfortunate squire, whose huge frame lay
+stretched across the room.  His disordered dress showed that he
+had been hastily aroused from sleep.  The bullet had been fired
+at him from the front, and had remained in his body after
+penetrating the heart.  His death had certainly been instantaneous
+and painless.  There was no powder-marking either upon his
+dressing-gown or on his hands.  According to the country surgeon
+the lady had stains upon her face, but none upon her hand.
+
+"The absence of the latter means nothing, though its presence
+may mean everything," said Holmes.  "Unless the powder from
+a badly-fitting cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may
+fire many shots without leaving a sign.  I would suggest that
+Mr. Cubitt's body may now be removed.  I suppose, doctor,
+you have not recovered the bullet which wounded the lady?"
+
+"A serious operation will be necessary before that can be done.
+But there are still four cartridges in the revolver.  Two have
+been fired and two wounds inflicted, so that each bullet can be
+accounted for."
+
+"So it would seem," said Holmes. "Perhaps you can account also for
+the bullet which has so obviously struck the edge of the window?"
+
+He had turned suddenly, and his long, thin finger was pointing
+to a hole which had been drilled right through the lower
+window-sash about an inch above the bottom.
+
+"By George!" cried the inspector.  "How ever did you see that?"
+
+"Because I looked for it."
+
+"Wonderful!" said the country doctor.  "You are certainly right,
+sir.  Then a third shot has been fired, and therefore a third
+person must have been present.  But who could that have been
+and how could he have got away?"
+
+"That is the problem which we are now about to solve," said
+Sherlock Holmes.  "You remember, Inspector Martin, when the
+servants said that on leaving their room they were at once
+conscious of a smell of powder I remarked that the point was
+an extremely important one?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but I confess I did not quite follow you."
+
+"It suggested that at the time of the firing the window as well
+as the door of the room had been open.  Otherwise the fumes of
+powder could not have been blown so rapidly through the house.
+A draught in the room was necessary for that.  Both door and
+window were only open for a very short time, however."
+
+"How do you prove that?"
+
+"Because the candle has not guttered."
+
+"Capital!" cried the inspector.  "Capital!"
+
+"Feeling sure that the window had been open at the time of the
+tragedy I conceived that there might have been a third person in
+the affair, who stood outside this opening and fired through it.
+Any shot directed at this person might hit the sash.  I looked,
+and there, sure enough, was the bullet mark!"
+
+"But how came the window to be shut and fastened?"
+
+"The woman's first instinct would be to shut and fasten the window.
+But, halloa! what is this?"
+
+It was a lady's hand-bag which stood upon the study table --
+a trim little hand-bag of crocodile-skin and silver.  Holmes
+opened it and turned the contents out.  There were twenty
+fifty-pound notes of the Bank of England, held together by an
+india-rubber band -- nothing else.
+
+"This must be preserved, for it will figure in the trial," said
+Holmes, as he handed the bag with its contents to the inspector.
+"It is now necessary that we should try to throw some light upon
+this third bullet, which has clearly, from the splintering of
+the wood, been fired from inside the room.  I should like to see
+Mrs. King, the cook, again.  You said, Mrs. King, that you were
+awakened by a LOUD explosion.  When you said that, did you mean
+that it seemed to you to be louder than the second one?"
+
+"Well, sir, it wakened me from my sleep, and so it is hard to judge.
+But it did seem very loud."
+
+"You don't think that it might have been two shots fired almost
+at the same instant?"
+
+"I am sure I couldn't say, sir."
+
+"I believe that it was undoubtedly so.  I rather think,
+Inspector Martin, that we have now exhausted all that this room
+can teach us.  If you will kindly step round with me, we shall
+see what fresh evidence the garden has to offer."
+
+A flower-bed extended up to the study window, and we all broke
+into an exclamation as we approached it.  The flowers were
+trampled down, and the soft soil was imprinted all over with
+footmarks.  Large, masculine feet they were, with peculiarly long,
+sharp toes.  Holmes hunted about among the grass and leaves like a
+retriever after a wounded bird.  Then, with a cry of satisfaction,
+he bent forward and picked up a little brazen cylinder.
+
+"I thought so," said he; "the revolver had an ejector, and here
+is the third cartridge.  I really think, Inspector Martin, that
+our case is almost complete."
+
+The country inspector's face had shown his intense amazement
+at the rapid and masterful progress of Holmes's investigation.
+At first he had shown some disposition to assert his own position;
+but now he was overcome with admiration and ready to follow
+without question wherever Holmes led.
+
+"Whom do you suspect?" he asked.
+
+"I'll go into that later.  There are several points in this
+problem which I have not been able to explain to you yet.
+Now that I have got so far I had best proceed on my own lines,
+and then clear the whole matter up once and for all."
+
+"Just as you wish, Mr. Holmes, so long as we get our man."
+
+"I have no desire to make mysteries, but it is impossible at the
+moment of action to enter into long and complex explanations.
+I have the threads of this affair all in my hand.  Even if this
+lady should never recover consciousness we can still reconstruct
+the events of last night and ensure that justice be done.
+First of all I wish to know whether there is any inn in this
+neighbourhood known as `Elrige's'?"
+
+The servants were cross-questioned, but none of them had heard
+of such a place.  The stable-boy threw a light upon the matter
+by remembering that a farmer of that name lived some miles off
+in the direction of East Ruston.
+
+"Is it a lonely farm?"
+
+"Very lonely, sir."
+
+"Perhaps they have not heard yet of all that happened here
+during the night?"
+
+"Maybe not, sir."
+
+Holmes thought for a little and then a curious smile played
+over his face.
+
+"Saddle a horse, my lad," said he.  "I shall wish you to take
+a note to Elrige's Farm."
+
+He took from his pocket the various slips of the dancing men.
+With these in front of him he worked for some time at the
+study-table.  Finally he handed a note to the boy, with
+directions to put it into the hands of the person to whom it was
+addressed, and especially to answer no questions of any sort
+which might be put to him.  I saw the outside of the note,
+addressed in straggling, irregular characters, very unlike
+Holmes's usual precise hand.  It was consigned to Mr. Abe
+Slaney, Elrige's Farm, East Ruston, Norfolk.
+
+"I think, inspector," Holmes remarked, "that you would do well
+to telegraph for an escort, as, if my calculations prove to be
+correct, you may have a particularly dangerous prisoner to
+convey to the county gaol.  The boy who takes this note could
+no doubt forward your telegram.  If there is an afternoon train
+to town, Watson, I think we should do well to take it, as I have
+a chemical analysis of some interest to finish, and this
+investigation draws rapidly to a close."
+
+When the youth had been dispatched with the note, Sherlock
+Holmes gave his instructions to the servants.  If any visitor
+were to call asking for Mrs. Hilton Cubitt no information should
+be given as to her condition, but he was to be shown at once
+into the drawing-room.  He impressed these points upon them with
+the utmost earnestness.  Finally he led the way into the
+drawing-room with the remark that the business was now out of our
+hands, and that we must while away the time as best we might until
+we could see what was in store for us.  The doctor had departed
+to his patients, and only the inspector and myself remained.
+
+"I think that I can help you to pass an hour in an interesting
+and profitable manner," said Holmes, drawing his chair up to the
+table and spreading out in front of him the various papers upon
+which were recorded the antics of the dancing men.  "As to you,
+friend Watson, I owe you every atonement for having allowed your
+natural curiosity to remain so long unsatisfied.  To you,
+inspector, the whole incident may appeal as a remarkable
+professional study.  I must tell you first of all the
+interesting circumstances connected with the previous
+consultations which Mr. Hilton Cubitt has had with me in Baker
+Street."  He then shortly recapitulated the facts which have
+already been recorded.  "I have here in front of me these
+singular productions, at which one might smile had they not
+proved themselves to be the fore-runners of so terrible a
+tragedy.  I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret
+writings, and am myself the author of a trifling monograph upon
+the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and sixty separate
+ciphers; but I confess that this is entirely new to me.
+The object of those who invented the system has apparently been
+to conceal that these characters convey a message, and to give
+the idea that they are the mere random sketches of children.
+
+"Having once recognised, however, that the symbols stood for
+letters, and having applied the rules which guide us in all
+forms of secret writings, the solution was easy enough.
+The first message submitted to me was so short that it was
+impossible for me to do more than to say with some confidence
+that the symbol XXX stood for E.  As you are aware, E is the
+most common letter in the English alphabet, and it predominates
+to so marked an extent that even in a short sentence one would
+expect to find it most often.  Out of fifteen symbols in the
+first message four were the same, so it was reasonable to set
+this down as E.  It is true that in some cases the figure was
+bearing a flag and in some cases not, but it was probable from
+the way in which the flags were distributed that they were used
+to break the sentence up into words.  I accepted this as a
+hypothesis, and noted that E was represented by XXX.
+
+"But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry.  The order of
+the English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
+preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed
+sheet may be reversed in a single short sentence.  Speaking
+roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, and L are the numerical
+order in which letters occur; but T, A, O, and I are very nearly
+abreast of each other, and it would be an endless task to try
+each combination until a meaning was arrived at.  I, therefore,
+waited for fresh material.  In my second interview with Mr.
+Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other short sentences
+and one message, which appeared -- since there was no flag --
+to be a single word.  Here are the symbols.  Now, in the single
+word I have already got the two E's coming second and fourth in
+a word of five letters.  It might be `sever,' or `lever,' or
+`never.'  There can be no question that the latter as a reply
+to an appeal is far the most probable, and the circumstances
+pointed to its being a reply written by the lady.  Accepting it
+as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols XXX stand
+respectively for N, V, and R.
+
+"Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought
+put me in possession of several other letters.  It occurred to
+me that if these appeals came, as I expected, from someone who
+had been intimate with the lady in her early life, a combination
+which contained two E's with three letters between might very
+well stand for the name `ELSIE.'  On examination I found that
+such a combination formed the termination of the message which
+was three times repeated.  It was certainly some appeal to `Elsie.'
+In this way I had got my L, S, and I.  But what appeal could it be?
+There were only four letters in the word which preceded `Elsie,'
+and it ended in E.  Surely the word must be `COME.'  I tried all
+other four letters ending in E, but could find none to fit the case.
+So now I was in possession of C, O, and M, and I was in a position
+to attack the first message once more, dividing it into words
+and putting dots for each symbol which was still unknown.
+So treated it worked out in this fashion:--
+
+        .M  .ERE  ..E  SL.NE.
+
+"Now the first letter CAN only be A, which is a most useful
+discovery, since it occurs no fewer than three times in this
+short sentence, and the H is also apparent in the second word.
+Now it becomes:--
+
+        AM  HERE  A.E  SLANE.
+
+Or, filling in the obvious vacancies in the name:--
+
+        AM  HERE  ABE  SLANEY.
+
+I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable
+confidence to the second message, which worked out in this
+fashion:--
+
+        A.  ELRI.ES.
+
+Here I could only make sense by putting T and G for the missing
+letters, and supposing that the name was that of some house or
+inn at which the writer was staying."
+
+Inspector Martin and I had listened with the utmost interest to
+the full and clear account of how my friend had produced results
+which had led to so complete a command over our difficulties.
+
+"What did you do then, sir?" asked the inspector.
+
+"I had every reason to suppose that this Abe Slaney was an
+American, since Abe is an American contraction, and since a
+letter from America had been the starting-point of all the
+trouble.  I had also every cause to think that there was some
+criminal secret in the matter.  The lady's allusions to her past
+and her refusal to take her husband into her confidence both
+pointed in that direction.  I therefore cabled to my friend,
+Wilson Hargreave, of the New York Police Bureau, who has more
+than once made use of my knowledge of London crime.  I asked him
+whether the name of Abe Slaney was known to him.  Here is his
+reply:  `The most dangerous crook in Chicago.'  On the very
+evening upon which I had his answer Hilton Cubitt sent me the
+last message from Slaney.  Working with known letters it took
+this form:--
+
+         ELSIE  .RE.ARE  TO  MEET  THY  GO.
+
+The addition of a P and a D completed a message which showed me
+that the rascal was proceeding from persuasion to threats, and
+my knowledge of the crooks of Chicago prepared me to find that
+he might very rapidly put his words into action.  I at once came
+to Norfolk with my friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, but, unhappily,
+only in time to find that the worst had already occurred."
+
+"It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of
+a case," said the inspector, warmly.  "You will excuse me,
+however, if I speak frankly to you.  You are only answerable to
+yourself, but I have to answer to my superiors.  If this Abe
+Slaney, living at Elrige's, is indeed the murderer, and if he
+has made his escape while I am seated here, I should certainly
+get into serious trouble."
+
+"You need not be uneasy.  He will not try to escape."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"To fly would be a confession of guilt."
+
+"Then let us go to arrest him."
+
+"I expect him here every instant."
+
+"But why should he come?"
+
+"Because I have written and asked him."
+
+"But this is incredible, Mr. Holmes!  Why should he come because
+you have asked him?  Would not such a request rather rouse his
+suspicions and cause him to fly?"
+
+"I think I have known how to frame the letter," said Sherlock
+Holmes.  "In fact, if I am not very much mistaken, here is the
+gentleman himself coming up the drive."
+
+A man was striding up the path which led to the door.  He was a
+tall, handsome, swarthy fellow, clad in a suit of grey flannel,
+with a Panama hat, a bristling black beard, and a great,
+aggressive hooked nose, and flourishing a cane as he walked.
+He swaggered up the path as if the place belonged to him,
+and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said Holmes, quietly, "that we had best
+take up our position behind the door.  Every precaution is
+necessary when dealing with such a fellow.  You will need your
+handcuffs, inspector.  You can leave the talking to me."
+
+We waited in silence for a minute -- one of those minutes which
+one can never forget.  Then the door opened and the man stepped
+in.  In an instant Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin
+slipped the handcuffs over his wrists.  It was all done so swiftly
+and deftly that the fellow was helpless before he knew that he was
+attacked.  He glared from one to the other of us with a pair of
+blazing black eyes.  Then he burst into a bitter laugh.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, you have the drop on me this time.  I seem to
+have knocked up against something hard.  But I came here in
+answer to a letter from Mrs. Hilton Cubitt.  Don't tell me that she
+is in this?  Don't tell me that she helped to set a trap for me?"
+
+"Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously injured and is at death's door."
+
+The man gave a hoarse cry of grief which rang through the house.
+
+"You're crazy!" he cried, fiercely.  "It was he that was hurt,
+not she.  Who would have hurt little Elsie?  I may have
+threatened her, God forgive me, but I would not have touched
+a hair of her pretty head.  Take it back -- you!  Say that she
+is not hurt!"
+
+"She was found badly wounded by the side of her dead husband."
+
+He sank with a deep groan on to the settee and buried his face in
+his manacled hands.  For five minutes he was silent.  Then he raised
+his face once more, and spoke with the cold composure of despair.
+
+"I have nothing to hide from you, gentlemen," said he.
+"If I shot the man he had his shot at me, and there's no murder
+in that.  But if you think I could have hurt that woman, then you
+don't know either me or her.  I tell you there was never a man
+in this world loved a woman more than I loved her.  I had a
+right to her.  She was pledged to me years ago.  Who was this
+Englishman that he should come between us?  I tell you that I
+had the first right to her, and that I was only claiming my own."
+
+"She broke away from your influence when she found the man that
+you are," said Holmes, sternly.  "She fled from America to avoid
+you, and she married an honourable gentleman in England.
+You dogged her and followed her and made her life a misery to her
+in order to induce her to abandon the husband whom she loved and
+respected in order to fly with you, whom she feared and hated.
+You have ended by bringing about the death of a noble man and
+driving his wife to suicide.  That is your record in this
+business, Mr. Abe Slaney, and you will answer for it to the law."
+
+"If Elsie dies I care nothing what becomes of me," said the
+American.  He opened one of his hands and looked at a note
+crumpled up in his palm.  "See here, mister, he cried, with a
+gleam of suspicion in his eyes, "you're not trying to scare me
+over this, are you?  If the lady is hurt as bad as you say, who was
+it that wrote this note?"  He tossed it forwards on to the table.
+
+"I wrote it to bring you here."
+
+"You wrote it?  There was no one on earth outside the Joint who
+knew the secret of the dancing men.  How came you to write it?"
+
+"What one man can invent another can discover," said Holmes.
+There is a cab coming to convey you to Norwich, Mr. Slaney.
+But, meanwhile, you have time to make some small reparation for
+the injury you have wrought.  Are you aware that Mrs. Hilton
+Cubitt has herself lain under grave suspicion of the murder
+of her husband, and that it was only my presence here and the
+knowledge which I happened to possess which has saved her from
+the accusation?  The least that you owe her is to make it clear
+to the whole world that she was in no way, directly or
+indirectly, responsible for his tragic end."
+
+"I ask nothing better," said the American.  "I guess the very
+best case I can make for myself is the absolute naked truth."
+
+"It is my duty to warn you that it will be used against you,"
+cried the inspector, with the magnificent fair-play of the
+British criminal law.
+
+Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I'll chance that," said he.  "First of all, I want you
+gentlemen to understand that I have known this lady since she
+was a child. There were seven of us in a gang in Chicago, and
+Elsie's father was the boss of the Joint.  He was a clever man,
+was old Patrick.  It was he who invented that writing, which
+would pass as a child's scrawl unless you just happened to have
+the key to it.  Well, Elsie learned some of our ways; but she
+couldn't stand the business, and she had a bit of honest money
+of her own, so she gave us all the slip and got away to London.
+She had been engaged to me, and she would have married me,
+I believe, if I had taken over another profession; but she would
+have nothing to do with anything on the cross.  It was only
+after her marriage to this Englishman that I was able to find
+out where she was.  I wrote to her, but got no answer.  After
+that I came over, and, as letters were no use, I put my messages
+where she could read them.
+
+"Well, I have been here a month now.  I lived in that farm,
+where I had a room down below, and could get in and out every
+night, and no one the wiser.  I tried all I could to coax Elsie
+away.  I knew that she read the messages, for once she wrote an
+answer under one of them.  Then my temper got the better of me,
+and I began to threaten her.  She sent me a letter then,
+imploring me to go away and saying that it would break her heart
+if any scandal should come upon her husband.  She said that she
+would come down when her husband was asleep at three in the
+morning, and speak with me through the end window, if I would
+go away afterwards and leave her in peace.  She came down and
+brought money with her, trying to bribe me to go.  This made
+me mad, and I caught her arm and tried to pull her through the
+window.  At that moment in rushed the husband with his revolver
+in his hand.  Elsie had sunk down upon the floor, and we were
+face to face.  I was heeled also, and I held up my gun to scare
+him off and let me get away.  He fired and missed me.  I pulled
+off almost at the same instant, and down he dropped.  I made
+away across the garden, and as I went I heard the window shut
+behind me.  That's God's truth, gentlemen, every word of it,
+and I heard no more about it until that lad came riding up with
+a note which made me walk in here, like a jay, and give myself
+into your hands."
+
+A cab had driven up whilst the American had been talking.
+Two uniformed policemen sat inside.  Inspector Martin rose
+and touched his prisoner on the shoulder.
+
+"It is time for us to go."
+
+"Can I see her first?"
+
+"No, she is not conscious.  Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I only hope
+that if ever again I have an important case I shall have the
+good fortune to have you by my side."
+
+We stood at the window and watched the cab drive away.  As I
+turned back my eye caught the pellet of paper which the prisoner
+had tossed upon the table.  It was the note with which Holmes
+had decoyed him.
+
+"See if you can read it, Watson," said he, with a smile.
+
+It contained no word, but this little line of dancing men:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"If you use the code which I have explained," said Holmes,
+"you will find that it simply means `Come here at once.'  I was
+convinced that it was an invitation which he would not refuse,
+since he could never imagine that it could come from anyone but
+the lady.  And so, my dear Watson, we have ended by turning the
+dancing men to good when they have so often been the agents of
+evil, and I think that I have fulfilled my promise of giving you
+something unusual for your note-book.  Three-forty is our train,
+and I fancy we should be back in Baker Street for dinner.
+
+
+Only one word of epilogue.  The American, Abe Slaney, was
+condemned to death at the winter assizes at Norwich; but his
+penalty was changed to penal servitude in consideration of
+mitigating circumstances, and the certainty that Hilton Cubitt
+had fired the first shot.  Of Mrs. Hilton Cubitt I only know
+that I have heard she recovered entirely, and that she still
+remains a widow, devoting her whole life to the care of the
+poor and to the administration of her husband's estate.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                    Vol. 27  JANUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+IV. --- The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist.
+
+
+FROM the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a
+very busy man.  It is safe to say that there was no public case
+of any difficulty in which he was not consulted during those
+eight years, and there were hundreds of private cases, some of
+them of the most intricate and extraordinary character, in which
+he played a prominent part.  Many startling successes and a few
+unavoidable failures were the outcome of this long period of
+continuous work.  As I have preserved very full notes of all
+these cases, and was myself personally engaged in many of them,
+it may be imagined that it is no easy task to know which I
+should select to lay before the public.  I shall, however,
+preserve my former rule, and give the preference to those cases
+which derive their interest not so much from the brutality of
+the crime as from the ingenuity and dramatic quality of the
+solution.  For this reason I will now lay before the reader the
+facts connected with Miss Violet Smith, the solitary cyclist of
+Charlington, and the curious sequel of our investigation, which
+culminated in unexpected tragedy.  It is true that the
+circumstances did not admit of any striking illustration of those
+powers for which my friend was famous, but there were some
+points about the case which made it stand out in those long
+records of crime from which I gather the material for these
+little narratives.
+
+On referring to my note-book for the year 1895 I find that it
+was upon Saturday, the 23rd of April, that we first heard of
+Miss Violet Smith.  Her visit was, I remember, extremely
+unwelcome to Holmes, for he was immersed at the moment in a very
+abstruse and complicated problem concerning the peculiar
+persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the well-known tobacco
+millionaire, had been subjected.  My friend, who loved above all
+things precision and concentration of thought, resented anything
+which distracted his attention from the matter in hand.  And yet
+without a harshness which was foreign to his nature it was
+impossible to refuse to listen to the story of the young and
+beautiful woman, tall, graceful, and queenly, who presented
+herself at Baker Street late in the evening and implored his
+assistance and advice.  It was vain to urge that his time was
+already fully occupied, for the young lady had come with the
+determination to tell her story, and it was evident that nothing
+short of force could get her out of the room until she had done
+so.  With a resigned air and a somewhat weary smile, Holmes
+begged the beautiful intruder to take a seat and to inform us
+what it was that was troubling her.
+
+"At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes
+darted over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy."
+
+She glanced down in surprise at her own feet, and I observed the
+slight roughening of the side of the sole caused by the friction
+of the edge of the pedal.
+
+"Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something
+to do with my visit to you to-day."
+
+My friend took the lady's ungloved hand and examined it with as
+close an attention and as little sentiment as a scientist would
+show to a specimen.
+
+"You will excuse me, I am sure.  It is my business," said he,
+as he dropped it.  "I nearly fell into the error of supposing
+that you were typewriting.  Of course, it is obvious that it is
+music.  You observe the spatulate finger-end, Watson, which is
+common to both professions?  There is a spirituality about the
+face, however" -- he gently turned it towards the light -- "which
+the typewriter does not generate.  This lady is a musician."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, I teach music."
+
+"In the country, I presume, from your complexion."
+
+"Yes, sir; near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey."
+
+"A beautiful neighbourhood and full of the most interesting
+associations.  You remember, Watson, that it was near there that
+we took Archie Stamford, the forger.  Now, Miss Violet, what has
+happened to you near Farnham, on the borders of Surrey?"
+
+The young lady, with great clearness and composure, made the
+following curious statement:--
+
+"My father is dead, Mr. Holmes.  He was James Smith, who
+conducted the orchestra at the old Imperial Theatre.  My mother
+and I were left without a relation in the world except one
+uncle, Ralph Smith, who went to Africa twenty-five years ago,
+and we have never had a word from him since.  When father died
+we were left very poor, but one day we were told that there was
+an advertisement in the TIMES inquiring for our whereabouts.  You
+can imagine how excited we were, for we thought that someone had
+left us a fortune.  We went at once to the lawyer whose name was
+given in the paper.  There we met two gentlemen, Mr. Carruthers
+and Mr. Woodley, who were home on a visit from South Africa.
+They said that my uncle was a friend of theirs, that he died
+some months before in great poverty in Johannesburg, and that he
+had asked them with his last breath to hunt up his relations and
+see that they were in no want.  It seemed strange to us that
+Uncle Ralph, who took no notice of us when he was alive, should
+be so careful to look after us when he was dead; but Mr. Carruthers
+explained that the reason was that my uncle had just heard of the
+death of his brother, and so felt responsible for our fate."
+
+"Excuse me," said Holmes; "when was this interview?"
+
+"Last December -- four months ago."
+
+"Pray proceed."
+
+"Mr. Woodley seemed to me to be a most odious person.
+He was for ever making eyes at me -- a coarse, puffy-faced,
+red-moustached young man, with his hair plastered down on each
+side of his forehead.  I thought that he was perfectly hateful --
+and I was sure that Cyril would not wish me to know such a person."
+
+"Oh, Cyril is his name!" said Holmes, smiling.
+
+The young lady blushed and laughed.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; Cyril Morton, an electrical engineer,
+and we hope to be married at the end of the summer.  Dear me,
+how DID I get talking about him?  What I wished to say was that
+Mr. Woodley was perfectly odious, but that Mr. Carruthers, who
+was a much older man, was more agreeable.  He was a dark, sallow,
+clean-shaven, silent person; but he had polite manners and a
+pleasant smile.  He inquired how we were left, and on finding
+that we were very poor he suggested that I should come and teach
+music to his only daughter, aged ten.  I said that I did not
+like to leave my mother, on which he suggested that I should go
+home to her every week-end, and he offered me a hundred a year,
+which was certainly splendid pay.  So it ended by my accepting,
+and I went down to Chiltern Grange, about six miles from
+Farnham.  Mr. Carruthers was a widower, but he had engaged
+a lady-housekeeper, a very respectable, elderly person, called
+Mrs. Dixon, to look after his establishment.  The child was
+a dear, and everything promised well.  Mr. Carruthers was very
+kind and very musical, and we had most pleasant evenings
+together.  Every week-end I went home to my mother in town.
+
+"The first flaw in my happiness was the arrival of the
+red-moustached Mr. Woodley.  He came for a visit of a week,
+and oh, it seemed three months to me!  He was a dreadful person,
+a bully to everyone else, but to me something infinitely worse.
+He made odious love to me, boasted of his wealth, said that if
+I married him I would have the finest diamonds in London, and
+finally, when I would have nothing to do with him, he seized me
+in his arms one day after dinner -- he was hideously strong --
+and he swore that he would not let me go until I had kissed him.
+Mr. Carruthers came in and tore him off from me, on which he
+turned upon his own host, knocking him down and cutting his face
+open.  That was the end of his visit, as you can imagine.
+Mr. Carruthers apologized to me next day, and assured me that
+I should never be exposed to such an insult again.  I have not
+seen Mr. Woodley since.
+
+"And now, Mr. Holmes, I come at last to the special thing which
+has caused me to ask your advice to-day.  You must know that
+every Saturday forenoon I ride on my bicycle to Farnham Station
+in order to get the 12.22 to town.  The road from Chiltern
+Grange is a lonely one, and at one spot it is particularly so,
+for it lies for over a mile between Charlington Heath upon one
+side and the woods which lie round Charlington Hall upon the
+other.  You could not find a more lonely tract of road anywhere,
+and it is quite rare to meet so much as a cart, or a peasant,
+until you reach the high road near Crooksbury Hill.  Two weeks
+ago I was passing this place when I chanced to look back over
+my shoulder, and about two hundred yards behind me I saw a man,
+also on a bicycle.  He seemed to be a middle-aged man, with
+a short, dark beard.  I looked back before I reached Farnham,
+but the man was gone, so I thought no more about it.  But you
+can imagine how surprised I was, Mr. Holmes, when on my return
+on the Monday I saw the same man on the same stretch of road.
+My astonishment was increased when the incident occurred again,
+exactly as before, on the following Saturday and Monday.
+He always kept his distance and did not molest me in any way,
+but still it certainly was very odd.  I mentioned it to Mr.
+Carruthers, who seemed interested in what I said, and told me
+that he had ordered a horse and trap, so that in future I should
+not pass over these lonely roads without some companion.
+
+"The horse and trap were to have come this week, but for some
+reason they were not delivered, and again I had to cycle to the
+station.  That was this morning.  You can think that I looked
+out when I came to Charlington Heath, and there, sure enough,
+was the man, exactly as he had been the two weeks before.
+He always kept so far from me that I could not clearly see
+his face, but it was certainly someone whom I did not know.
+He was dressed in a dark suit with a cloth cap.  The only thing
+about his face that I could clearly see was his dark beard.
+To-day I was not alarmed, but I was filled with curiosity,
+and I determined to find out who he was and what he wanted.
+I slowed down my machine, but he slowed down his.  Then I stopped
+altogether, but he stopped also.  Then I laid a trap for him.
+There is a sharp turning of the road, and I pedalled very
+quickly round this, and then I stopped and waited.  I expected
+him to shoot round and pass me before he could stop.  But he
+never appeared.  Then I went back and looked round the corner.
+I could see a mile of road, but he was not on it.  To make it
+the more extraordinary, there was no side road at this point
+down which he could have gone."
+
+Holmes chuckled and rubbed his hands.  "This case certainly
+presents some features of its own," said he.  "How much time
+elapsed between your turning the corner and your discovery
+that the road was clear?"
+
+"Two or three minutes."
+
+"Then he could not have retreated down the road, and you say
+that there are no side roads?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then he certainly took a footpath on one side or the other."
+
+"It could not have been on the side of the heath or I should
+have seen him."
+
+"So by the process of exclusion we arrive at the fact that he
+made his way towards Charlington Hall, which, as I understand,
+is situated in its own grounds on one side of the road.
+Anything else?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes, save that I was so perplexed that I felt
+I should not be happy until I had seen you and had your advice."
+
+Holmes sat in silence for some little time.
+
+"Where is the gentleman to whom you are engaged?" he asked,
+at last.
+
+"He is in the Midland Electrical Company, at Coventry."
+
+"He would not pay you a surprise visit?"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Holmes!  As if I should not know him!"
+
+"Have you had any other admirers?"
+
+"Several before I knew Cyril."
+
+"And since?"
+
+"There was this dreadful man, Woodley, if you can call him
+an admirer."
+
+"No one else?"
+
+Our fair client seemed a little confused.
+
+"Who was he?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Oh, it may be a mere fancy of mine; but it has seemed to me
+sometimes that my employer, Mr. Carruthers, takes a great deal
+of interest in me.  We are thrown rather together.  I play his
+accompaniments in the evening.  He has never said anything.
+He is a perfect gentleman.  But a girl always knows."
+
+"Ha!"  Holmes looked grave.  "What does he do for a living?"
+
+"He is a rich man."
+
+"No carriages or horses?"
+
+"Well, at least he is fairly well-to-do.  But he goes into the
+City two or three times a week.  He is deeply interested in
+South African gold shares."
+
+"You will let me know any fresh development, Miss Smith.  I am
+very busy just now, but I will find time to make some inquiries
+into your case.  In the meantime take no step without letting me
+know.  Good-bye, and I trust that we shall have nothing but good
+news from you."
+
+"It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl
+should have followers," said Holmes, as he pulled at his meditative
+pipe, "but for choice not on bicycles in lonely country roads.
+Some secretive lover, beyond all doubt.  But there are curious
+and suggestive details about the case, Watson."
+
+"That he should appear only at that point?"
+
+"Exactly.  Our first effort must be to find who are the tenants
+of Charlington Hall.  Then, again, how about the connection
+between Carruthers and Woodley, since they appear to be men of
+such a different type?  How came they BOTH to be so keen upon
+looking up Ralph Smith's relations?  One more point.  What sort
+of a MENAGE is it which pays double the market price for a
+governess, but does not keep a horse although six miles from the
+station?  Odd, Watson -- very odd!"
+
+"You will go down?"
+
+"No, my dear fellow, YOU will go down.  This may be some
+trifling intrigue, and I cannot break my other important
+research for the sake of it.  On Monday you will arrive early
+at Farnham; you will conceal yourself near Charlington Heath;
+you will observe these facts for yourself, and act as your
+own judgment advises.  Then, having inquired as to the occupants
+of the Hall, you will come back to me and report.  And now,
+Watson, not another word of the matter until we have a few solid
+stepping-stones on which we may hope to get across to our solution."
+
+We had ascertained from the lady that she went down upon the
+Monday by the train which leaves Waterloo at 9.50, so I started
+early and caught the 9.13.  At Farnham Station I had no
+difficulty in being directed to Charlington Heath.  It was
+impossible to mistake the scene of the young lady's adventure,
+for the road runs between the open heath on one side and an old
+yew hedge upon the other, surrounding a park which is studded
+with magnificent trees.  There was a main gateway of
+lichen-studded stone, each side pillar surmounted by mouldering
+heraldic emblems; but besides this central carriage drive
+I observed several points where there were gaps in the hedge
+and paths leading through them.  The house was invisible from
+the road, but the surroundings all spoke of gloom and decay.
+
+The heath was covered with golden patches of flowering gorse,
+gleaming magnificently in the light of the bright spring sunshine.
+Behind one of these clumps I took up my position, so as to command
+both the gateway of the Hall and a long stretch of the road upon
+either side.  It had been deserted when I left it,
+but now I saw a cyclist riding down it from the opposite
+direction to that in which I had come.  He was clad in a dark
+suit, and I saw that he had a black beard.  On reaching the end
+of the Charlington grounds he sprang from his machine and led it
+through a gap in the hedge, disappearing from my view.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed and then a second cyclist appeared.
+This time it was the young lady coming from the station.
+I saw her look about her as she came to the Charlington hedge.
+An instant later the man emerged from his hiding-place, sprang upon
+his cycle, and followed her.  In all the broad landscape those
+were the only moving figures, the graceful girl sitting very
+straight upon her machine, and the man behind her bending low
+over his handle-bar, with a curiously furtive suggestion in
+every movement.  She looked back at him and slowed her pace.
+He slowed also.  She stopped.  He at once stopped too, keeping two
+hundred yards behind her.  Her next movement was as unexpected
+as it was spirited.  She suddenly whisked her wheels round and
+dashed straight at him!  He was as quick as she, however, and
+darted off in desperate flight.  Presently she came back up the
+road again, her head haughtily in the air, not deigning to take
+any further notice of her silent attendant.  He had turned also,
+and still kept his distance until the curve of the road hid them
+from my sight.
+
+I remained in my hiding-place, and it was well that I did so,
+for presently the man reappeared cycling slowly back.
+He turned in at the Hall gates and dismounted from his machine.
+For some few minutes I could see him standing among the trees.
+His hands were raised and he seemed to be settling his necktie.
+Then he mounted his cycle and rode away from me down the drive
+towards the Hall.  I ran across the heath and peered through the
+trees.  Far away I could catch glimpses of the old grey building
+with its bristling Tudor chimneys, but the drive ran through a
+dense shrubbery, and I saw no more of my man.
+
+However, it seemed to me that I had done a fairly good morning's
+work, and I walked back in high spirits to Farnham.  The local
+house-agent could tell me nothing about Charlington Hall, and
+referred me to a well-known firm in Pall Mall.  There I halted
+on my way home, and met with courtesy from the representative.
+No, I could not have Charlington Hall for the summer.
+I was just too late.  It had been let about a month ago.
+Mr. Williamson was the name of the tenant.  He was a respectable
+elderly gentleman.  The polite agent was afraid he could say no
+more, as the affairs of his clients were not matters which he
+could discuss.
+
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes listened with attention to the long report
+which I was able to present to him that evening, but it did not
+elicit that word of curt praise which I had hoped for and should
+have valued.  On the contrary, his austere face was even more
+severe than usual as he commented upon the things that I had
+done and the things that I had not.
+
+"Your hiding-place, my dear Watson, was very faulty.  You should
+have been behind the hedge; then you would have had a close view
+of this interesting person.  As it is you were some hundreds
+of yards away, and can tell me even less than Miss Smith.
+She thinks she does not know the man; I am convinced she does.
+Why, otherwise, should he be so desperately anxious that she
+should not get so near him as to see his features?  You describe
+him as bending over the handle-bar.  Concealment again, you see.
+You really have done remarkably badly.  He returns to the house and
+you want to find out who he is.  You come to a London house-agent!"
+
+"What should I have done?" I cried, with some heat.
+
+"Gone to the nearest public-house.  That is the centre of
+country gossip.  They would have told you every name, from the
+master to the scullery-maid.  Williamson!  It conveys nothing to
+my mind.  If he is an elderly man he is not this active cyclist
+who sprints away from that athletic young lady's pursuit.  What
+have we gained by your expedition?  The knowledge that the
+girl's story is true.  I never doubted it.  That there is a
+connection between the cyclist and the Hall.  I never doubted
+that either.  That the Hall is tenanted by Williamson.
+Who's the better for that?  Well, well, my dear sir, don't
+look so depressed.  We can do little more until next Saturday,
+and in the meantime I may make one or two inquiries myself."
+
+Next morning we had a note from Miss Smith, recounting shortly
+and accurately the very incidents which I had seen, but the pith
+of the letter lay in the postscript:--
+
+"I am sure that you will respect my confidence, Mr. Holmes,
+when I tell you that my place here has become difficult owing
+to the fact that my employer has proposed marriage to me.  I am
+convinced that his feelings are most deep and most honourable.
+At the same time my promise is, of course, given.  He took my
+refusal very seriously, but also very gently.  You can
+understand, however, that the situation is a little strained."
+
+"Our young friend seems to be getting into deep waters,"
+said Holmes, thoughtfully, as he finished the letter.
+"The case certainly presents more features of interest and
+more possibility of development than I had originally thought.
+I should be none the worse for a quiet, peaceful day in the
+country, and I am inclined to run down this afternoon and test
+one or two theories which I have formed."
+
+Holmes's quiet day in the country had a singular termination,
+for he arrived at Baker Street late in the evening with a cut
+lip and a discoloured lump upon his forehead, besides a general
+air of dissipation which would have made his own person the
+fitting object of a Scotland Yard investigation.  He was
+immensely tickled by his own adventures, and laughed heartily
+as he recounted them.
+
+"I get so little active exercise that it is always a treat,"
+said he.  "You are aware that I have some proficiency in the
+good old British sport of boxing.  Occasionally it is of
+service.  To-day, for example, I should have come to very
+ignominious grief without it."
+
+I begged him to tell me what had occurred.
+
+"I found that country pub which I had already recommended to
+your notice, and there I made my discreet inquiries.  I was in
+the bar, and a garrulous landlord was giving me all that I
+wanted.  Williamson is a white-bearded man, and he lives alone
+with a small staff of servants at the Hall.  There is some rumour
+that he is or has been a clergyman; but one or two incidents of
+his short residence at the Hall struck me as peculiarly
+unecclesiastical.  I have already made some inquiries at a
+clerical agency, and they tell me that there WAS a man of that
+name in orders whose career has been a singularly dark one.
+The landlord further informed me that there are usually week-end
+visitors -- `a warm lot, sir' -- at the Hall, and especially one
+gentleman with a red moustache, Mr. Woodley by name, who was
+always there.  We had got as far as this when who should walk in
+but the gentleman himself, who had been drinking his beer in the
+tap-room and had heard the whole conversation.  Who was I?
+What did I want?  What did I mean by asking questions?  He had
+a fine flow of language, and his adjectives were very vigorous.
+He ended a string of abuse by a vicious back-hander which I failed
+to entirely avoid.  The next few minutes were delicious.  It was
+a straight left against a slogging ruffian.  I emerged as you
+see me.  Mr. Woodley went home in a cart.  So ended my country trip,
+and it must be confessed that, however enjoyable, my day on the
+Surrey border has not been much more profitable than your own."
+
+The Thursday brought us another letter from our client.
+
+"You will not be surprised, Mr. Holmes," said she, "to hear
+that I am leaving Mr. Carruthers's employment.  Even the high
+pay cannot reconcile me to the discomforts of my situation.
+On Saturday I come up to town and I do not intend to return.
+Mr. Carruthers has got a trap, and so the dangers of the lonely
+road, if there ever were any dangers, are now over.
+
+"As to the special cause of my leaving, it is not merely the
+strained situation with Mr. Carruthers, but it is the
+reappearance of that odious man, Mr. Woodley.  He was always
+hideous, but he looks more awful than ever now, for he appears
+to have had an accident and he is much disfigured.  I saw him
+out of the window, but I am glad to say I did not meet him.
+He had a long talk with Mr. Carruthers, who seemed much excited
+afterwards.  Woodley must be staying in the neighbourhood, for
+he did not sleep here, and yet I caught a glimpse of him again
+this morning slinking about in the shrubbery.  I would sooner
+have a savage wild animal loose about the place.  I loathe and
+fear him more than I can say.  How CAN Mr. Carruthers endure
+such a creature for a moment?  However, all my troubles will be
+over on Saturday."
+
+"So I trust, Watson; so I trust," said Holmes, gravely.
+"There is some deep intrigue going on round that little woman,
+and it is our duty to see that no one molests her upon that last
+journey.  I think, Watson, that we must spare time to run down
+together on Saturday morning, and make sure that this curious
+and inconclusive investigation has no untoward ending."
+
+I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view
+of the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre
+than dangerous.  That a man should lie in wait for and follow
+a very handsome woman is no unheard-of thing, and if he had so
+little audacity that he not only dared not address her, but even
+fled from her approach, he was not a very formidable assailant.
+The ruffian Woodley was a very different person, but, except on
+one occasion, he had not molested our client, and now he visited
+the house of Carruthers without intruding upon her presence.
+The man on the bicycle was doubtless a member of those week-end
+parties at the Hall of which the publican had spoken; but who
+he was or what he wanted was as obscure as ever.  It was the
+severity of Holmes's manner and the fact that he slipped a
+revolver into his pocket before leaving our rooms which
+impressed me with the feeling that tragedy might prove to
+lurk behind this curious train of events.
+
+A rainy night had been followed by a glorious morning, and the
+heath-covered country-side with the glowing clumps of flowering
+gorse seemed all the more beautiful to eyes which were weary of
+the duns and drabs and slate-greys of London.  Holmes and I
+walked along the broad, sandy road inhaling the fresh morning
+air, and rejoicing in the music of the birds and the fresh
+breath of the spring.  From a rise of the road on the shoulder
+of Crooksbury Hill we could see the grim Hall bristling out from
+amidst the ancient oaks, which, old as they were, were still
+younger than the building which they surrounded.  Holmes pointed
+down the long tract of road which wound, a reddish yellow band,
+between the brown of the heath and the budding green of the
+woods.  Far away, a black dot, we could see a vehicle moving
+in our direction.  Holmes gave an exclamation of impatience.
+
+"I had given a margin of half an hour," said he.  "If that is
+her trap she must be making for the earlier train.  I fear,
+Watson, that she will be past Charlington before we can possibly
+meet her."
+
+From the instant that we passed the rise we could no longer see
+the vehicle, but we hastened onwards at such a pace that my
+sedentary life began to tell upon me, and I was compelled to
+fall behind.  Holmes, however, was always in training, for he
+had inexhaustible stores of nervous energy upon which to draw.
+His springy step never slowed until suddenly, when he was a
+hundred yards in front of me, he halted, and I saw him throw
+up his hand with a gesture of grief and despair.  At the same
+instant an empty dog-cart, the horse cantering, the reins
+trailing, appeared round the curve of the road and rattled
+swiftly towards us.
+
+"Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes, as I ran panting to
+his side.  "Fool that I was not to allow for that earlier train!
+It's abduction, Watson -- abduction!  Murder!  Heaven knows what!
+Block the road!  Stop the horse!  That's right.  Now, jump in,
+and let us see if I can repair the consequences of my own blunder."
+
+We had sprung into the dog-cart, and Holmes, after turning the
+horse, gave it a sharp cut with the whip, and we flew back along
+the road.  As we turned the curve the whole stretch of road
+between the Hall and the heath was opened up.  I grasped
+Holmes's arm.
+
+"That's the man!" I gasped.
+
+A solitary cyclist was coming towards us.  His head was down
+and his shoulders rounded as he put every ounce of energy that
+he possessed on to the pedals.  He was flying like a racer.
+Suddenly he raised his bearded face, saw us close to him, and
+pulled up, springing from his machine.  That coal-black beard
+was in singular contrast to the pallor of his face, and his eyes
+were as bright as if he had a fever.  He stared at us and at the
+dog-cart.  Then a look of amazement came over his face.
+
+"Halloa!  Stop there!" he shouted, holding his bicycle to block
+our road.  "Where did you get that dog-cart?  Pull up, man!"
+he yelled, drawing a pistol from his side pocket.  "Pull up,
+I say, or, by George, I'll put a bullet into your horse."
+
+Holmes threw the reins into my lap and sprang down from the cart.
+
+"You're the man we want to see.  Where is Miss Violet Smith?"
+he said, in his quick, clear way.
+
+"That's what I am asking you.  You're in her dog-cart.
+You ought to know where she is."
+
+"We met the dog-cart on the road.  There was no one in it.
+We drove back to help the young lady."
+
+"Good Lord!  Good Lord! what shall I do?" cried the stranger,
+in an ecstasy of despair.  "They've got her, that hellhound Woodley
+and the blackguard parson.  Come, man, come, if you really are
+her friend.  Stand by me and we'll save her, if I have to leave
+my carcass in Charlington Wood."
+
+He ran distractedly, his pistol in his hand, towards a gap
+in the hedge.  Holmes followed him, and I, leaving the horse
+grazing beside the road, followed Holmes.
+
+"This is where they came through," said he, pointing to the marks
+of several feet upon the muddy path.  "Halloa!  Stop a minute!
+Who's this in the bush?"
+
+It was a young fellow about seventeen, dressed like an ostler,
+with leather cords and gaiters.  He lay upon his back, his knees
+drawn up, a terrible cut upon his head.  He was insensible, but
+alive.  A glance at his wound told me that it had not penetrated
+the bone.
+
+"That's Peter, the groom," cried the stranger.  "He drove her.
+The beasts have pulled him off and clubbed him.  Let him lie;
+we can't do him any good, but we may save her from the worst
+fate that can befall a woman."
+
+We ran frantically down the path, which wound among the trees.
+We had reached the shrubbery which surrounded the house when
+Holmes pulled up.
+
+"They didn't go to the house.  Here are their marks on the left
+-- here, beside the laurel bushes!  Ah, I said so!"
+
+As he spoke a woman's shrill scream -- a scream which vibrated
+with a frenzy of horror -- burst from the thick green clump of
+bushes in front of us.  It ended suddenly on its highest note
+with a choke and a gurgle.
+
+"This way!  This way!  They are in the bowling alley," cried the
+stranger, darting through the bushes.  "Ah, the cowardly dogs!
+Follow me, gentlemen!  Too late! too late! by the living Jingo!"
+
+We had broken suddenly into a lovely glade of greensward
+surrounded by ancient trees.  On the farther side of it, under
+the shadow of a mighty oak, there stood a singular group of
+three people.  One was a woman, our client, drooping and faint,
+a handkerchief round her mouth.  Opposite her stood a brutal,
+heavy-faced, red-moustached young man, his gaitered legs parted
+wide, one arm akimbo, the other waving a riding-crop, his whole
+attitude suggestive of triumphant bravado.  Between them an
+elderly, grey-bearded man, wearing a short surplice over a light
+tweed suit, had evidently just completed the wedding service,
+for he pocketed his prayer-book as we appeared and slapped the
+sinister bridegroom upon the back in jovial congratulation.
+
+"They're married!" I gasped.
+
+"Come on!" cried our guide; "come on!"  He rushed across the
+glade, Holmes and I at his heels.  As we approached, the lady
+staggered against the trunk of the tree for support.
+Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed to us with mock politeness,
+and the bully Woodley advanced with a shout of brutal and
+exultant laughter.
+
+"You can take your beard off, Bob," said he. "I know you right
+enough.  Well, you and your pals have just come in time for me
+to be able to introduce you to Mrs. Woodley."
+
+Our guide's answer was a singular one.  He snatched off the
+dark beard which had disguised him and threw it on the ground,
+disclosing a long, sallow, clean-shaven face below it.
+Then he raised his revolver and covered the young ruffian,
+who was advancing upon him with his dangerous riding-crop
+swinging in his hand.
+
+"Yes," said our ally, "I AM Bob Carruthers, and I'll see this
+woman righted if I have to swing for it.  I told you what I'd do
+if you molested her, and, by the Lord, I'll be as good as my word!"
+
+"You're too late.  She's my wife!"
+
+"No, she's your widow."
+
+His revolver cracked, and I saw the blood spurt from the front
+of Woodley's waistcoat.  He spun round with a scream and fell
+upon his back, his hideous red face turning suddenly to a
+dreadful mottled pallor.  The old man, still clad in his
+surplice, burst into such a string of foul oaths as I have never
+heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but before he could
+raise it he was looking down the barrel of Holmes's weapon.
+
+"Enough of this," said my friend, coldly.  "Drop that pistol!
+Watson, pick it up!  Hold it to his head!  Thank you.  You,
+Carruthers, give me that revolver.  We'll have no more violence.
+Come, hand it over!"
+
+"Who are you, then?"
+
+"My name is Sherlock Holmes."
+
+"Good Lord!"
+
+"You have heard of me, I see.  I will represent the official
+police until their arrival.  Here, you!" he shouted to a
+frightened groom who had appeared at the edge of the glade.
+"Come here.  Take this note as hard as you can ride to Farnham."
+He scribbled a few words upon a leaf from his note-book.  "Give
+it to the superintendent at the police-station.  Until he comes
+I must detain you all under my personal custody."
+
+The strong, masterful personality of Holmes dominated the tragic
+scene, and all were equally puppets in his hands.  Williamson
+and Carruthers found themselves carrying the wounded Woodley
+into the house, and I gave my arm to the frightened girl.
+The injured man was laid on his bed, and at Holmes's request I
+examined him.  I carried my report to where he sat in the old
+tapestry-hung dining-room with his two prisoners before him.
+
+"He will live," said I.
+
+"What!" cried Carruthers, springing out of his chair.  "I'll go
+upstairs and finish him first.  Do you tell me that that girl,
+that angel, is to be tied to Roaring Jack Woodley for life?"
+
+"You need not concern yourself about that," said Holmes.
+"There are two very good reasons why she should under no
+circumstances be his wife.  In the first place, we are very safe
+in questioning Mr. Williamson's right to solemnize a marriage."
+
+"I have been ordained," cried the old rascal.
+
+"And also unfrocked."
+
+"Once a clergyman, always a clergyman."
+
+"I think not.  How about the license?"
+
+"We had a license for the marriage.  I have it here in my pocket."
+
+"Then you got it by a trick.  But in any case a forced marriage
+is no marriage, but it is a very serious felony, as you will
+discover before you have finished.  You'll have time to think
+the point out during the next ten years or so, unless I am
+mistaken.  As to you, Carruthers, you would have done better
+to keep your pistol in your pocket."
+
+"I begin to think so, Mr. Holmes; but when I thought of all the
+precaution I had taken to shield this girl -- for I loved her,
+Mr. Holmes, and it is the only time that ever I knew what love
+was -- it fairly drove me mad to think that she was in the power
+of the greatest brute and bully in South Africa, a man whose
+name is a holy terror from Kimberley to Johannesburg.  Why, Mr.
+Holmes, you'll hardly believe it, but ever since that girl has
+been in my employment I never once let her go past this house,
+where I knew these rascals were lurking, without following her
+on my bicycle just to see that she came to no harm.  I kept my
+distance from her, and I wore a beard so that she should not
+recognise me, for she is a good and high-spirited girl, and she
+wouldn't have stayed in my employment long if she had thought
+that I was following her about the country roads."
+
+"Why didn't you tell her of her danger?"
+
+"Because then, again, she would have left me, and I couldn't
+bear to face that.  Even if she couldn't love me it was a great
+deal to me just to see her dainty form about the house, and to
+hear the sound of her voice."
+
+"Well," said I, "you call that love, Mr. Carruthers,
+but I should call it selfishness."
+
+"Maybe the two things go together.  Anyhow, I couldn't let her
+go.  Besides, with this crowd about, it was well that she should
+have someone near to look after her.  Then when the cable came
+I knew they were bound to make a move."
+
+"What cable?"
+
+Carruthers took a telegram from his pocket.
+
+"That's it," said he.
+
+It was short and concise:--
+
+"The old man is dead."
+
+"Hum!" said Holmes.  "I think I see how things worked, and I can
+understand how this message would, as you say, bring them to a
+head.  But while we wait you might tell me what you can."
+
+The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad
+language.
+
+"By Heaven," said he, "if you squeal on us, Bob Carruthers,
+I'll serve you as you served Jack Woodley.  You can bleat about
+the girl to your heart's content, for that's your own affair,
+but if you round on your pals to this plain-clothes copper
+it will be the worst day's work that ever you did."
+
+"Your reverence need not be excited," said Holmes, lighting a
+cigarette.  "The case is clear enough against you, and all I ask
+is a few details for my private curiosity.  However, if there's
+any difficulty in your telling me I'll do the talking, and then
+you will see how far you have a chance of holding back your secrets.
+In the first place, three of you came from South Africa on this
+game -- you Williamson, you Carruthers, and Woodley."
+
+"Lie number one," said the old man; "I never saw either of
+them until two months ago, and I have never been in Africa
+in my life, so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it,
+Mr. Busybody Holmes!"
+
+"What he says is true," said Carruthers.
+
+"Well, well, two of you came over.  His reverence is our own
+home-made article.  You had known Ralph Smith in South Africa.
+You had reason to believe he would not live long.  You found out
+that his niece would inherit his fortune.  How's that -- eh?"
+
+Carruthers nodded and Williamson swore.
+
+"She was next-of-kin, no doubt, and you were aware that the old
+fellow would make no will."
+
+"Couldn't read or write," said Carruthers.
+
+"So you came over, the two of you, and hunted up the girl.
+The idea was that one of you was to marry her and the other have
+a share of the plunder.  For some reason Woodley was chosen as
+the husband.  Why was that?"
+
+"We played cards for her on the voyage.  He won."
+
+"I see.  You got the young lady into your service, and there
+Woodley was to do the courting.  She recognised the drunken
+brute that he was, and would have nothing to do with him.
+Meanwhile, your arrangement was rather upset by the fact that
+you had yourself fallen in love with the lady.  You could no
+longer bear the idea of this ruffian owning her."
+
+"No, by George, I couldn't!"
+
+"There was a quarrel between you.  He left you in a rage,
+and began to make his own plans independently of you."
+
+"It strikes me, Williamson, there isn't very much that we can
+tell this gentleman," cried Carruthers, with a bitter laugh.
+"Yes, we quarreled, and he knocked me down.  I am level with him
+on that, anyhow.  Then I lost sight of him.  That was when he
+picked up with this cast padre here.  I found that they had set
+up house-keeping together at this place on the line that she
+had to pass for the station.  I kept my eye on her after that,
+for I knew there was some devilry in the wind.  I saw them from
+time to time, for I was anxious to know what they were after.
+Two days ago Woodley came up to my house with this cable, which
+showed that Ralph Smith was dead.  He asked me if I would stand
+by the bargain.  I said I would not.  He asked me if I would
+marry the girl myself and give him a share.  I said I would
+willingly do so, but that she would not have me.  He said,
+`Let us get her married first, and after a week or two she may
+see things a bit different.'  I said I would have nothing to do
+with violence.  So he went off cursing, like the foul-mouthed
+blackguard that he was, and swearing that he would have her yet.
+She was leaving me this week-end, and I had got a trap to take
+her to the station, but I was so uneasy in my mind that I
+followed her on my bicycle.  She had got a start, however,
+and before I could catch her the mischief was done.  The first
+thing I knew about it was when I saw you two gentlemen driving
+back in her dog-cart."
+
+Holmes rose and tossed the end of his cigarette into the grate.
+"I have been very obtuse, Watson," said he.  "When in your
+report you said that you had seen the cyclist as you thought
+arrange his necktie in the shrubbery, that alone should have
+told me all.  However, we may congratulate ourselves upon a
+curious and in some respects a unique case.  I perceive three
+of the county constabulary in the drive, and I am glad to see
+that the little ostler is able to keep pace with them; so it is
+likely that neither he nor the interesting bridegroom will be
+permanently damaged by their morning's adventures.  I think,
+Watson, that in your medical capacity you might wait upon Miss
+Smith and tell her that if she is sufficiently recovered we
+shall be happy to escort her to her mother's home.  If she is
+not quite convalescent you will find that a hint that we were
+about to telegraph to a young electrician in the Midlands would
+probably complete the cure.  As to you, Mr. Carruthers, I think
+that you have done what you could to make amends for your share
+in an evil plot.  There is my card, sir, and if my evidence can
+be of help to you in your trial it shall be at your disposal."
+
+
+In the whirl of our incessant activity it has often been
+difficult for me, as the reader has probably observed, to round
+off my narratives, and to give those final details which the
+curious might expect.  Each case has been the prelude to
+another, and the crisis once over the actors have passed for
+ever out of our busy lives.  I find, however, a short note at
+the end of my manuscripts dealing with this case, in which
+I have put it upon record that Miss Violet Smith did indeed
+inherit a large fortune, and that she is now the wife of Cyril
+Morton, the senior partner of Morton & Kennedy, the famous
+Westminster electricians.  Williamson and Woodley were both
+tried for abduction and assault, the former getting seven years
+and the latter ten.  Of the fate of Carruthers I have no record,
+but I am sure that his assault was not viewed very gravely by
+the Court, since Woodley had the reputation of being a most
+dangerous ruffian, and I think that a few months were sufficient
+to satisfy the demands of justice.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 27  FEBRUARY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+V. --- The Adventure of the Priory School.
+
+
+WE have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small
+stage at Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more
+sudden and startling than the first appearance of Thorneycroft
+Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc.  His card, which seemed too small to
+carry the weight of his academic distinctions, preceded him by a
+few seconds, and then he entered himself -- so large, so pompous,
+and so dignified that he was the very embodiment of self-possession
+and solidity.  And yet his first action when the door had closed
+behind him was to stagger against the table, whence he slipped
+down upon the floor, and there was that majestic figure prostrate
+and insensible upon our bearskin hearthrug.
+
+We had sprung to our feet, and for a few moments we stared in
+silent amazement at this ponderous piece of wreckage, which told
+of some sudden and fatal storm far out on the ocean of life.
+Then Holmes hurried with a cushion for his head and I with
+brandy for his lips.  The heavy white face was seamed with lines
+of trouble, the hanging pouches under the closed eyes were
+leaden in colour, the loose mouth drooped dolorously at the corners,
+the rolling chins were unshaven.  Collar and shirt bore the grime
+of a long journey, and the hair bristled unkempt from the
+well-shaped head.  It was a sorely-stricken man who lay before us.
+
+"What is it, Watson?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Absolute exhaustion -- possibly mere hunger and fatigue," said I,
+with my finger on the thready pulse, where the stream of life
+trickled thin and small.
+
+"Return ticket from Mackleton, in the North of England," said Holmes,
+drawing it from the watch-pocket.  "It is not twelve o'clock yet.
+He has certainly been an early starter."
+
+The puckered eyelids had begun to quiver, and now a pair of
+vacant, grey eyes looked up at us.  An instant later the man
+had scrambled on to his feet, his face crimson with shame.
+
+"Forgive this weakness, Mr. Holmes; I have been a little
+overwrought.  Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and
+a biscuit I have no doubt that I should be better.  I came
+personally, Mr. Holmes, in order to ensure that you would return
+with me.  I feared that no telegram would convince you of the
+absolute urgency of the case."
+
+"When you are quite restored ----"
+
+"I am quite well again.  I cannot imagine how I came to be so weak.
+I wish you, Mr. Holmes, to come to Mackleton with me by the next train."
+
+My friend shook his head.
+
+"My colleague, Dr. Watson, could tell you that we are very busy
+at present.  I am retained in this case of the Ferrers Documents,
+and the Abergavenny murder is coming up for trial.  Only a very
+important issue could call me from London at present."
+
+"Important!"  Our visitor threw up his hands.  "Have you heard
+nothing of the abduction of the only son of the Duke of Holdernesse?"
+
+"What! the late Cabinet Minister?"
+
+"Exactly.  We had tried to keep it out of the papers, but there
+was some rumour in the GLOBE last night.  I thought it might
+have reached your ears."
+
+Holmes shot out his long, thin arm and picked out Volume "H"
+in his encyclopaedia of reference.
+
+"`Holdernesse, 6th Duke, K.G., P.C.' -- half the alphabet!
+`Baron Beverley, Earl of Carston' -- dear me, what a list!
+`Lord Lieutenant of Hallamshire since 1900.  Married Edith,
+daughter of Sir Charles Appledore, 1888.  Heir and only child,
+Lord Saltire.  Owns about two hundred and fifty thousand acres.
+Minerals in Lancashire and Wales.  Address: Carlton House
+Terrace; Holdernesse Hall, Hallamshire; Carston Castle, Bangor,
+Wales.  Lord of the Admiralty, 1872; Chief Secretary of State
+for --'  Well, well, this man is certainly one of the greatest
+subjects of the Crown!"
+
+"The greatest and perhaps the wealthiest.  I am aware, Mr. Holmes,
+that you take a very high line in professional matters, and that
+you are prepared to work for the work's sake.  I may tell you,
+however, that his Grace has already intimated that a cheque for five
+thousand pounds will be handed over to the person who can tell him
+where his son is, and another thousand to him who can name the man,
+or men, who have taken him."
+
+"It is a princely offer," said Holmes.  "Watson, I think that
+we shall accompany Dr. Huxtable back to the North of England.
+And now, Dr. Huxtable, when you have consumed that milk you
+will kindly tell me what has happened, when it happened,
+how it happened, and, finally, what Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable,
+of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do with the matter,
+and why he comes three days after an event -- the state of your
+chin gives the date -- to ask for my humble services."
+
+Our visitor had consumed his milk and biscuits.  The light had
+come back to his eyes and the colour to his cheeks as he set
+himself with great vigour and lucidity to explain the situation.
+
+"I must inform you, gentlemen, that the Priory is a preparatory
+school, of which I am the founder and principal.  `Huxtable's
+Sidelights on Horace' may possibly recall my name to your
+memories.  The Priory is, without exception, the best and most
+select preparatory school in England.  Lord Leverstoke, the Earl
+of Blackwater, Sir Cathcart Soames -- they all have entrusted
+their sons to me.  But I felt that my school had reached its
+zenith when, three weeks ago, the Duke of Holdernesse sent
+Mr. James Wilder, his secretary, with the intimation that young
+Lord Saltire, ten years old, his only son and heir, was about
+to be committed to my charge.  Little did I think that this
+would be the prelude to the most crushing misfortune of my life.
+
+"On May 1st the boy arrived, that being the beginning of the
+summer term.  He was a charming youth, and he soon fell into
+our ways.  I may tell you -- I trust that I am not indiscreet,
+but half-confidences are absurd in such a case -- that he was
+not entirely happy at home.  It is an open secret that the Duke's
+married life had not been a peaceful one, and the matter had
+ended in a separation by mutual consent, the Duchess taking up
+her residence in the South of France.  This had occurred very
+shortly before, and the boy's sympathies are known to have been
+strongly with his mother.  He moped after her departure from
+Holdernesse Hall, and it was for this reason that the Duke
+desired to send him to my establishment.  In a fortnight the boy
+was quite at home with us, and was apparently absolutely happy.
+
+"He was last seen on the night of May 13th -- that is,
+the night of last Monday.  His room was on the second floor,
+and was approached through another larger room in which two
+boys were sleeping.  These boys saw and heard nothing, so that
+it is certain that young Saltire did not pass out that way.
+His window was open, and there is a stout ivy plant leading to
+the ground.  We could trace no footmarks below, but it is sure
+that this is the only possible exit.
+
+"His absence was discovered at seven o'clock on Tuesday morning.
+His bed had been slept in.  He had dressed himself fully before
+going off in his usual school suit of black Eton jacket and dark
+grey trousers.  There were no signs that anyone had entered the
+room, and it is quite certain that anything in the nature of cries,
+or a struggle, would have been heard, since Caunter, the elder boy
+in the inner room, is a very light sleeper.
+
+"When Lord Saltire's disappearance was discovered I at once
+called a roll of the whole establishment, boys, masters,
+and servants.  It was then that we ascertained that Lord Saltire
+had not been alone in his flight.  Heidegger, the German master,
+was missing.  His room was on the second floor, at the farther
+end of the building, facing the same way as Lord Saltire's.
+His bed had also been slept in; but he had apparently gone away
+partly dressed, since his shirt and socks were lying on the floor.
+He had undoubtedly let himself down by the ivy, for we could see
+the marks of his feet where he had landed on the lawn.
+His bicycle was kept in a small shed beside this lawn,
+and it also was gone.
+
+"He had been with me for two years, and came with the best
+references; but he was a silent, morose man, not very popular
+either with masters or boys.  No trace could be found of the
+fugitives, and now on Thursday morning we are as ignorant as
+we were on Tuesday.  Inquiry was, of course, made at once at
+Holdernesse Hall.  It is only a few miles away, and we imagined
+that in some sudden attack of home-sickness he had gone back
+to his father; but nothing had been heard of him.  The Duke is
+greatly agitated -- and as to me, you have seen yourselves the
+state of nervous prostration to which the suspense and the
+responsibility have reduced me.  Mr. Holmes, if ever you put
+forward your full powers, I implore you to do so now, for never
+in your life could you have a case which is more worthy of them."
+
+Sherlock Holmes had listened with the utmost intentness to the
+statement of the unhappy schoolmaster.  His drawn brows and the
+deep furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to
+concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from
+the tremendous interests involved, must appeal so directly to
+his love of the complex and the unusual.  He now drew out his
+note-book and jotted down one or two memoranda.
+
+"You have been very remiss in not coming to me sooner," said he,
+severely.  "You start me on my investigation with a very serious
+handicap.  It is inconceivable, for example, that this ivy and
+this lawn would have yielded nothing to an expert observer."
+
+"I am not to blame, Mr. Holmes.  His Grace was extremely
+desirous to avoid all public scandal.  He was afraid of
+his family unhappiness being dragged before the world.
+He has a deep horror of anything of the kind."
+
+"But there has been some official investigation?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and it has proved most disappointing.  An apparent
+clue was at once obtained, since a boy and a young man were
+reported to have been seen leaving a neighbouring station by
+an early train.  Only last night we had news that the couple
+had been hunted down in Liverpool, and they prove to have no
+connection whatever with the matter in hand.  Then it was that
+in my despair and disappointment, after a sleepless night,
+I came straight to you by the early train."
+
+"I suppose the local investigation was relaxed while this false
+clue was being followed up?"
+
+"It was entirely dropped."
+
+"So that three days have been wasted.  The affair has been most
+deplorably handled."
+
+"I feel it, and admit it."
+
+"And yet the problem should be capable of ultimate solution.
+I shall be very happy to look into it.  Have you been able to trace
+any connection between the missing boy and this German master?"
+
+"None at all."
+
+"Was he in the master's class?"
+
+"No; he never exchanged a word with him so far as I know."
+
+"That is certainly very singular.  Had the boy a bicycle?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Was any other bicycle missing?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Is that certain?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, now, you do not mean to seriously suggest that this
+German rode off upon a bicycle in the dead of the night bearing
+the boy in his arms?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Then what is the theory in your mind?"
+
+"The bicycle may have been a blind.  It may have been hidden
+somewhere and the pair gone off on foot."
+
+"Quite so; but it seems rather an absurd blind, does it not?
+Were there other bicycles in this shed?"
+
+"Several."
+
+"Would he not have hidden A COUPLE had he desired to give the
+idea that they had gone off upon them?"
+
+"I suppose he would."
+
+"Of course he would.  The blind theory won't do.  But the
+incident is an admirable starting-point for an investigation.
+After all, a bicycle is not an easy thing to conceal or to destroy.
+One other question.  Did anyone call to see the boy on the day
+before he disappeared?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did he get any letters?"
+
+"Yes; one letter."
+
+"From whom?"
+
+"From his father."
+
+"Do you open the boys' letters?"
+
+"No."
+
+"How do you know it was from the father?"
+
+"The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed
+in the Duke's peculiar stiff hand.  Besides, the Duke remembers
+having written."
+
+"When had he a letter before that?"
+
+"Not for several days."
+
+"Had he ever one from France?"
+
+"No; never.
+
+"You see the point of my questions, of course.  Either the
+boy was carried off by force or he went of his own free will.
+In the latter case you would expect that some prompting from
+outside would be needed to make so young a lad do such a thing.
+If he has had no visitors, that prompting must have come in
+letters.  Hence I try to find out who were his correspondents."
+
+"I fear I cannot help you much.  His only correspondent,
+so far as I know, was his own father."
+
+"Who wrote to him on the very day of his disappearance.
+Were the relations between father and son very friendly?"
+
+"His Grace is never very friendly with anyone.  He is completely
+immersed in large public questions, and is rather inaccessible
+to all ordinary emotions.  But he was always kind to the boy in
+his own way."
+
+"But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did he say so?"
+
+"No."
+
+"The Duke, then?"
+
+"Good heavens, no!"
+
+"Then how could you know?"
+
+"I have had some confidential talks with Mr. James Wilder,
+his Grace's secretary.  It was he who gave me the information
+about Lord Saltire's feelings."
+
+"I see.  By the way, that last letter of the Duke's -- was it
+found in the boy's room after he was gone?"
+
+"No; he had taken it with him.  I think, Mr. Holmes, it is time
+that we were leaving for Euston."
+
+"I will order a four-wheeler.  In a quarter of an hour we shall
+be at your service.  If you are telegraphing home, Mr. Huxtable,
+it would be well to allow the people in your neighbourhood to
+imagine that the inquiry is still going on in Liverpool, or
+wherever else that red herring led your pack.  In the meantime
+I will do a little quiet work at your own doors, and perhaps
+the scent is not so cold but that two old hounds like Watson
+and myself may get a sniff of it."
+
+
+That evening found us in the cold, bracing atmosphere of the
+Peak country, in which Dr. Huxtable's famous school is situated.
+It was already dark when we reached it.  A card was lying on the
+hall table, and the butler whispered something to his master,
+who turned to us with agitation in every heavy feature.
+
+"The Duke is here," said he.  "The Duke and Mr. Wilder are
+in the study.  Come, gentlemen, and I will introduce you."
+
+I was, of course, familiar with the pictures of the famous
+statesman, but the man himself was very different from his
+representation.  He was a tall and stately person, scrupulously
+dressed, with a drawn, thin face, and a nose which was
+grotesquely curved and long.  His complexion was of a dead
+pallor, which was more startling by contrast with a long,
+dwindling beard of vivid red, which flowed down over his white
+waistcoat, with his watch-chain gleaming through its fringe.
+Such was the stately presence who looked stonily at us from the
+centre of Dr. Huxtable's hearthrug.  Beside him stood a very
+young man, whom I understood to be Wilder, the private
+secretary.  He was small, nervous, alert, with intelligent,
+light-blue eyes and mobile features.  It was he who at once,
+in an incisive and positive tone, opened the conversation.
+
+"I called this morning, Dr. Huxtable, too late to prevent you
+from starting for London.  I learned that your object was to
+invite Mr. Sherlock Holmes to undertake the conduct of this
+case.  His Grace is surprised, Dr. Huxtable, that you should
+have taken such a step without consulting him."
+
+"When I learned that the police had failed ----"
+
+"His Grace is by no means convinced that the police have failed."
+
+"But surely, Mr. Wilder ----"
+
+"You are well aware, Dr. Huxtable, that his Grace is particularly
+anxious to avoid all public scandal.  He prefers to take as few
+people as possible into his confidence."
+
+"The matter can be easily remedied," said the brow-beaten doctor;
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes can return to London by the morning train."
+
+"Hardly that, Doctor, hardly that," said Holmes, in his
+blandest voice.  "This northern air is invigorating and pleasant,
+so I propose to spend a few days upon your moors, and to occupy
+my mind as best I may.  Whether I have the shelter of your roof
+or of the village inn is, of course, for you to decide."
+
+I could see that the unfortunate doctor was in the last stage
+of indecision, from which he was rescued by the deep, sonorous
+voice of the red-bearded Duke, which boomed out like a dinner-gong.
+
+"I agree with Mr. Wilder, Dr. Huxtable, that you would have done
+wisely to consult me.  But since Mr. Holmes has already been
+taken into your confidence, it would indeed be absurd that we
+should not avail ourselves of his services.  Far from going to
+the inn, Mr. Holmes, I should be pleased if you would come and
+stay with me at Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"I thank your Grace.  For the purposes of my investigation
+I think that it would be wiser for me to remain at the scene
+of the mystery."
+
+"Just as you like, Mr. Holmes.  Any information which Mr. Wilder
+or I can give you is, of course, at your disposal."
+
+"It will probably be necessary for me to see you at the Hall,"
+said Holmes.  "I would only ask you now, sir, whether you have
+formed any explanation in your own mind as to the mysterious
+disappearance of your son?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not."
+
+"Excuse me if I allude to that which is painful to you,
+but I have no alternative.  Do you think that the Duchess
+had anything to do with the matter?"
+
+The great Minister showed perceptible hesitation.
+
+"I do not think so," he said, at last.
+
+"The other most obvious explanation is that the child
+has been kidnapped for the purpose of levying ransom.
+You have not had any demand of the sort?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"One more question, your Grace.  I understand that you wrote
+to your son upon the day when this incident occurred."
+
+"No; I wrote upon the day before."
+
+"Exactly.  But he received it on that day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was there anything in your letter which might have unbalanced
+him or induced him to take such a step?"
+
+"No, sir, certainly not."
+
+"Did you post that letter yourself?"
+
+The nobleman's reply was interrupted by his secretary,
+who broke in with some heat.
+
+"His Grace is not in the habit of posting letters himself,"
+said he. "This letter was laid with others upon the study table,
+and I myself put them in the post-bag."
+
+"You are sure this one was among them?"
+
+"Yes; I observed it."
+
+"How many letters did your Grace write that day?"
+
+"Twenty or thirty.  I have a large correspondence.
+But surely this is somewhat irrelevant?"
+
+"Not entirely," said Holmes.
+
+"For my own part," the Duke continued, "I have advised the
+police to turn their attention to the South of France.
+I have already said that I do not believe that the Duchess would
+encourage so monstrous an action, but the lad had the most
+wrong-headed opinions, and it is possible that he may have fled
+to her, aided and abetted by this German.  I think, Dr. Huxtable,
+that we will now return to the Hall."
+
+I could see that there were other questions which Holmes would
+have wished to put; but the nobleman's abrupt manner showed that
+the interview was at an end.  It was evident that to his
+intensely aristocratic nature this discussion of his intimate
+family affairs with a stranger was most abhorrent, and that he
+feared lest every fresh question would throw a fiercer light
+into the discreetly shadowed corners of his ducal history.
+
+When the nobleman and his secretary had left, my friend flung
+himself at once with characteristic eagerness into the
+investigation.
+
+The boy's chamber was carefully examined, and yielded nothing
+save the absolute conviction that it was only through the window
+that he could have escaped.  The German master's room and
+effects gave no further clue.  In his case a trailer of ivy had
+given way under his weight, and we saw by the light of a lantern
+the mark on the lawn where his heels had come down.  That one
+dint in the short green grass was the only material witness left
+of this inexplicable nocturnal flight.
+
+Sherlock Holmes left the house alone, and only returned after
+eleven.  He had obtained a large ordnance map of the
+neighbourhood, and this he brought into my room, where he laid
+it out on the bed, and, having balanced the lamp in the middle
+of it, he began to smoke over it, and occasionally to point out
+objects of interest with the reeking amber of his pipe.
+
+"This case grows upon me, Watson," said he.  "There are decidedly
+some points of interest in connection with it.  In this early
+stage I want you to realize those geographical features which may
+have a good deal to do with our investigation.
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"Look at this map.  This dark square is the Priory School.
+I'll put a pin in it.  Now, this line is the main road.
+You see that it runs east and west past the school, and you
+see also that there is no side road for a mile either way.
+If these two folk passed away by road it was THIS road."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"By a singular and happy chance we are able to some extent to
+check what passed along this road during the night in question.
+At this point, where my pipe is now resting, a country constable
+was on duty from twelve to six.  It is, as you perceive, the
+first cross road on the east side.  This man declares that he
+was not absent from his post for an instant, and he is positive
+that neither boy nor man could have gone that way unseen.
+I have spoken with this policeman to-night, and he appears to
+me to be a perfectly reliable person.  That blocks this end.
+We have now to deal with the other.  There is an inn here,
+the Red Bull, the landlady of which was ill.  She had sent
+to Mackleton for a doctor, but he did not arrive until morning,
+being absent at another case.  The people at the inn were alert
+all night, awaiting his coming, and one or other of them seems
+to have continually had an eye upon the road.  They declare that
+no one passed.  If their evidence is good, then we are fortunate
+enough to be able to block the west, and also to be able to say
+that the fugitives did NOT use the road at all."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I objected.
+
+"Quite so.  We will come to the bicycle presently.  To continue
+our reasoning:  if these people did not go by the road, they
+must have traversed the country to the north of the house or
+to the south of the house.  That is certain.  Let us weigh the
+one against the other.  On the south of the house is, as you
+perceive, a large district of arable land, cut up into small
+fields, with stone walls between them.  There, I admit that a
+bicycle is impossible.  We can dismiss the idea.  We turn to the
+country on the north.  Here there lies a grove of trees, marked
+as the `Ragged Shaw,' and on the farther side stretches a great
+rolling moor, Lower Gill Moor, extending for ten miles and
+sloping gradually upwards.  Here, at one side of this
+wilderness, is Holdernesse Hall, ten miles by road, but only six
+across the moor.  It is a peculiarly desolate plain.  A few moor
+farmers have small holdings, where they rear sheep and cattle.
+Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants
+until you come to the Chesterfield high road.  There is a church
+there, you see, a few cottages, and an inn.  Beyond that the
+hills become precipitous.  Surely it is here to the north that
+our quest must lie."
+
+"But the bicycle?" I persisted.
+
+"Well, well!" said Holmes, impatiently.  "A good cyclist does
+not need a high road.  The moor is intersected with paths and
+the moon was at the full.  Halloa! what is this?"
+
+There was an agitated knock at the door, and an instant
+afterwards Dr. Huxtable was in the room.  In his hand he held
+a blue cricket-cap, with a white chevron on the peak.
+
+"At last we have a clue!" he cried.  "Thank Heaven! at last
+we are on the dear boy's track!  It is his cap."
+
+"Where was it found?"
+
+"In the van of the gipsies who camped on the moor.
+They left on Tuesday.  To-day the police traced them
+down and examined their caravan.  This was found."
+
+"How do they account for it?"
+
+"They shuffled and lied -- said that they found it on the
+moor on Tuesday morning.  They know where he is, the rascals!
+Thank goodness, they are all safe under lock and key.  Either
+the fear of the law or the Duke's purse will certainly get out
+of them all that they know."
+
+"So far, so good," said Holmes, when the doctor had at last
+left the room.  "It at least bears out the theory that it is
+on the side of the Lower Gill Moor that we must hope for results.
+The police have really done nothing locally, save the arrest
+of these gipsies.  Look here, Watson!  There is a watercourse
+across the moor.  You see it marked here in the map.  In some
+parts it widens into a morass.  This is particularly so in the
+region between Holdernesse Hall and the school.  It is vain to
+look elsewhere for tracks in this dry weather; but at THAT point
+there is certainly a chance of some record being left.  I will
+call you early to-morrow morning, and you and I will try if we
+can throw some little light upon the mystery."
+
+The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form
+of Holmes by my bedside.  He was fully dressed, and had apparently
+already been out.
+
+"I have done the lawn and the bicycle shed," said he.
+"I have also had a ramble through the Ragged Shaw.  Now, Watson,
+there is cocoa ready in the next room. I must beg you to hurry,
+for we have a great day before us."
+
+His eyes shone, and his cheek was flushed with the exhilaration
+of the master workman who sees his work lie ready before him.
+A very different Holmes, this active, alert man, from the
+introspective and pallid dreamer of Baker Street.  I felt,
+as I looked upon that supple figure, alive with nervous energy,
+that it was indeed a strenuous day that awaited us.
+
+And yet it opened in the blackest disappointment.  With high
+hopes we struck across the peaty, russet moor, intersected with
+a thousand sheep paths, until we came to the broad, light-green
+belt which marked the morass between us and Holdernesse.
+Certainly, if the lad had gone homewards, he must have passed
+this, and he could not pass it without leaving his traces.
+But no sign of him or the German could be seen.  With a darkening
+face my friend strode along the margin, eagerly observant of
+every muddy stain upon the mossy surface.  Sheep-marks there
+were in profusion, and at one place, some miles down, cows had
+left their tracks.  Nothing more.
+
+"Check number one," said Holmes, looking gloomily over the
+rolling expanse of the moor.  "There is another morass down
+yonder and a narrow neck between.  Halloa! halloa! halloa!
+what have we here?"
+
+We had come on a small black ribbon of pathway.  In the middle of it,
+clearly marked on the sodden soil, was the track of a bicycle.
+
+"Hurrah!" I cried.  "We have it."
+
+But Holmes was shaking his head, and his face was puzzled and
+expectant rather than joyous.
+
+"A bicycle, certainly, but not THE bicycle," said he.
+"I am familiar with forty-two different impressions left by tyres.
+This, as you perceive, is a Dunlop, with a patch upon the outer cover.
+Heidegger's tyres were Palmer's, leaving longitudinal stripes.
+Aveling, the mathematical master, was sure upon the point.
+Therefore, it is not Heidegger's track."
+
+"The boy's, then?"
+
+"Possibly, if we could prove a bicycle to have been in his
+possession.  But this we have utterly failed to do.  This track,
+as you perceive, was made by a rider who was going from the
+direction of the school."
+
+"Or towards it?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson.  The more deeply sunk impression is,
+of course, the hind wheel, upon which the weight rests.
+You perceive several places where it has passed across and
+obliterated the more shallow mark of the front one.  It was
+undoubtedly heading away from the school.  It may or may not
+be connected with our inquiry, but we will follow it backwards
+before we go any farther."
+
+We did so, and at the end of a few hundred yards lost the tracks
+as we emerged from the boggy portion of the moor.  Following the
+path backwards, we picked out another spot, where a spring
+trickled across it.  Here, once again, was the mark of the
+bicycle, though nearly obliterated by the hoofs of cows.  After
+that there was no sign, but the path ran right on into Ragged
+Shaw, the wood which backed on to the school.  From this wood
+the cycle must have emerged.  Holmes sat down on a boulder and
+rested his chin in his hands.  I had smoked two cigarettes
+before he moved.
+
+"Well, well," said he, at last.  "It is, of course, possible
+that a cunning man might change the tyre of his bicycle in order
+to leave unfamiliar tracks.  A criminal who was capable of such
+a thought is a man whom I should be proud to do business with.
+We will leave this question undecided and hark back to our
+morass again, for we have left a good deal unexplored."
+
+We continued our systematic survey of the edge of the sodden
+portion of the moor, and soon our perseverance was gloriously
+rewarded.  Right across the lower part of the bog lay a miry
+path.  Holmes gave a cry of delight as he approached it.
+An impression like a fine bundle of telegraph wires ran down
+the centre of it.  It was the Palmer tyre.
+
+"Here is Herr Heidegger, sure enough!" cried Holmes, exultantly.
+"My reasoning seems to have been pretty sound, Watson."
+
+"I congratulate you."
+
+"But we have a long way still to go.  Kindly walk clear
+of the path.  Now let us follow the trail.  I fear that
+it will not lead very far."
+
+We found, however, as we advanced that this portion of the moor
+is intersected with soft patches, and, though we frequently lost
+sight of the track, we always succeeded in picking it up once more.
+
+"Do you observe," said Holmes, "that the rider is now
+undoubtedly forcing the pace?  There can be no doubt of it.
+Look at this impression, where you get both tyres clear.
+The one is as deep as the other.  That can only mean that
+the rider is throwing his weight on to the handle-bar,
+as a man does when he is sprinting.  By Jove! he has had a fall."
+
+There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the
+track.  Then there were a few footmarks, and the tyre reappeared
+once more.
+
+"A side-slip," I suggested.
+
+Holmes held up a crumpled branch of flowering gorse.  To my
+horror I perceived that the yellow blossoms were all dabbled
+with crimson.  On the path, too, and among the heather were dark
+stains of clotted blood.
+
+"Bad!" said Holmes.  "Bad!  Stand clear, Watson!  Not an
+unnecessary footstep!  What do I read here?  He fell wounded,
+he stood up, he remounted, he proceeded.  But there is no other
+track.  Cattle on this side path.  He was surely not gored by a
+bull?  Impossible!  But I see no traces of anyone else.  We must
+push on, Watson.  Surely with stains as well as the track to
+guide us he cannot escape us now."
+
+Our search was not a very long one.  The tracks of the tyre
+began to curve fantastically upon the wet and shining path.
+Suddenly, as I looked ahead, the gleam of metal caught my eye
+from amid the thick gorse bushes.  Out of them we dragged a
+bicycle, Palmer-tyred, one pedal bent, and the whole front of it
+horribly smeared and slobbered with blood.  On the other side of
+the bushes a shoe was projecting.  We ran round, and there lay
+the unfortunate rider.  He was a tall man, full bearded, with
+spectacles, one glass of which had been knocked out.  The cause
+of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had
+crushed in part of his skull.  That he could have gone on after
+receiving such an injury said much for the vitality and courage
+of the man.  He wore shoes, but no socks, and his open coat
+disclosed a night-shirt beneath it.  It was undoubtedly the
+German master.
+
+Holmes turned the body over reverently, and examined it with
+great attention.  He then sat in deep thought for a time, and I
+could see by his ruffled brow that this grim discovery had not,
+in his opinion, advanced us much in our inquiry.
+
+"It is a little difficult to know what to do, Watson," said he,
+at last.  "My own inclinations are to push this inquiry on,
+for we have already lost so much time that we cannot afford to
+waste another hour.  On the other hand, we are bound to inform
+the police of the discovery, and to see that this poor fellow's
+body is looked after."
+
+"I could take a note back."
+
+"But I need your company and assistance.  Wait a bit!
+There is a fellow cutting peat up yonder.  Bring him over here,
+and he will guide the police."
+
+I brought the peasant across, and Holmes dispatched the
+frightened man with a note to Dr. Huxtable.
+
+"Now, Watson," said he, "we have picked up two clues this morning.
+One is the bicycle with the Palmer tyre, and we see what that
+has led to.  The other is the bicycle with the patched Dunlop.
+Before we start to investigate that, let us try to realize what
+we DO know so as to make the most of it, and to separate the
+essential from the accidental."
+
+"First of all I wish to impress upon you that the boy certainly
+left of his own free will.  He got down from his window and he
+went off, either alone or with someone.  That is sure."
+
+I assented.
+
+"Well, now, let us turn to this unfortunate German master.
+The boy was fully dressed when he fled.  Therefore, he foresaw
+what he would do.  But the German went without his socks.
+He certainly acted on very short notice."
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+"Why did he go?  Because, from his bedroom window, he saw the
+flight of the boy.  Because he wished to overtake him and bring
+him back.  He seized his bicycle, pursued the lad, and in
+pursuing him met his death."
+
+"So it would seem."
+
+"Now I come to the critical part of my argument.  The natural
+action of a man in pursuing a little boy would be to run after him.
+He would know that he could overtake him.  But the German does not
+do so.  He turns to his bicycle.  I am told that he was an
+excellent cyclist.  He would not do this if he did not see that
+the boy had some swift means of escape."
+
+"The other bicycle."
+
+"Let us continue our reconstruction.  He meets his death five
+miles from the school -- not by a bullet, mark you, which even
+a lad might conceivably discharge, but by a savage blow dealt
+by a vigorous arm.  The lad, then, HAD a companion in his flight.
+And the flight was a swift one, since it took five miles before
+an expert cyclist could overtake them.  Yet we survey the ground
+round the scene of the tragedy.  What do we find?  A few cattle
+tracks, nothing more.  I took a wide sweep round, and there is no
+path within fifty yards.  Another cyclist could have had nothing
+to do with the actual murder.  Nor were there any human footmarks."
+
+"Holmes," I cried, "this is impossible."
+
+"Admirable!" he said.  "A most illuminating remark.
+It IS impossible as I state it, and therefore I must in some
+respect have stated it wrong.  Yet you saw for yourself.
+Can you suggest any fallacy?"
+
+"He could not have fractured his skull in a fall?"
+
+"In a morass, Watson?"
+
+"I am at my wit's end."
+
+"Tut, tut; we have solved some worse problems.  At least we have
+plenty of material, if we can only use it.  Come, then, and,
+having exhausted the Palmer, let us see what the Dunlop with the
+patched cover has to offer us."
+
+We picked up the track and followed it onwards for some distance;
+but soon the moor rose into a long, heather-tufted curve, and we
+left the watercourse behind us.  No further help from tracks could
+be hoped for.  At the spot where we saw the last of the Dunlop tyre
+it might equally have led to Holdernesse Hall, the stately towers
+of which rose some miles to our left, or to a low, grey village
+which lay in front of us, and marked the position of the
+Chesterfield high road.
+
+As we approached the forbidding and squalid inn, with the
+sign of a game-cock above the door, Holmes gave a sudden groan
+and clutched me by the shoulder to save himself from falling.
+He had had one of those violent strains of the ankle which leave
+a man helpless.  With difficulty he limped up to the door, where
+a squat, dark, elderly man was smoking a black clay pipe.
+
+"How are you, Mr. Reuben Hayes?" said Holmes.
+
+"Who are you, and how do you get my name so pat?" the countryman
+answered, with a suspicious flash of a pair of cunning eyes.
+
+"Well, it's printed on the board above your head.  It's easy to
+see a man who is master of his own house.  I suppose you haven't
+such a thing as a carriage in your stables?"
+
+"No; I have not."
+
+"I can hardly put my foot to the ground."
+
+"Don't put it to the ground."
+
+"But I can't walk."
+
+"Well, then, hop."
+
+Mr. Reuben Hayes's manner was far from gracious, but Holmes took
+it with admirable good-humour.
+
+"Look here, my man," said he.  "This is really rather an awkward
+fix for me.  I don't mind how I get on."
+
+"Neither do I," said the morose landlord.
+
+"The matter is very important.  I would offer you a sovereign
+for the use of a bicycle."
+
+The landlord pricked up his ears.
+
+"Where do you want to go?"
+
+"To Holdernesse Hall."
+
+"Pals of the Dook, I suppose?" said the landlord, surveying our
+mud-stained garments with ironical eyes.
+
+Holmes laughed good-naturedly.
+
+"He'll be glad to see us, anyhow."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because we bring him news of his lost son."
+
+The landlord gave a very visible start.
+
+"What, you're on his track?"
+
+"He has been heard of in Liverpool.  They expect to get him
+every hour."
+
+Again a swift change passed over the heavy, unshaven face.
+His manner was suddenly genial.
+
+"I've less reason to wish the Dook well than most men," said he,
+"for I was his head coachman once, and cruel bad he treated me.
+It was him that sacked me without a character on the word of a
+lying corn-chandler.  But I'm glad to hear that the young lord
+was heard of in Liverpool, and I'll help you to take the news
+to the Hall."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes.  "We'll have some food first.
+Then you can bring round the bicycle."
+
+"I haven't got a bicycle."
+
+Holmes held up a sovereign.
+
+"I tell you, man, that I haven't got one.  I'll let you have two
+horses as far as the Hall."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, "we'll talk about it when we've had
+something to eat."
+
+When we were left alone in the stone-flagged kitchen it was
+astonishing how rapidly that sprained ankle recovered.  It was
+nearly nightfall, and we had eaten nothing since early morning,
+so that we spent some time over our meal.  Holmes was lost in
+thought, and once or twice he walked over to the window and
+stared earnestly out.  It opened on to a squalid courtyard.
+In the far corner was a smithy, where a grimy lad was at work.
+On the other side were the stables.  Holmes had sat down again
+after one of these excursions, when he suddenly sprang out of
+his chair with a loud exclamation.
+
+"By Heaven, Watson, I believe that I've got it!" he cried.
+"Yes, yes, it must be so.  Watson, do you remember seeing any
+cow-tracks to-day?"
+
+"Yes, several."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Well, everywhere.  They were at the morass, and again
+on the path, and again near where poor Heidegger met his death."
+
+"Exactly.  Well, now, Watson, how many cows did you see on the moor?"
+
+"I don't remember seeing any."
+
+"Strange, Watson, that we should see tracks all along our line,
+but never a cow on the whole moor; very strange, Watson, eh?"
+
+"Yes, it is strange."
+
+"Now, Watson, make an effort; throw your mind back!
+Can you see those tracks upon the path?"
+
+"Yes, I can."
+
+"Can you recall that the tracks were sometimes like that,
+Watson" -- he arranged a number of bread-crumbs in this fashion
+-- : : : : : -- "and sometimes like this" -- : . : . : . : .  --
+"and occasionally like this" -- . ` . ` . ` .  "Can you remember that?"
+
+"No, I cannot."
+
+"But I can.  I could swear to it.  However, we will go back at
+our leisure and verify it.  What a blind beetle I have been not
+to draw my conclusion!"
+
+"And what is your conclusion?"
+
+"Only that it is a remarkable cow which walks, canters, and gallops.
+By George, Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that
+thought out such a blind as that!  The coast seems to be clear,
+save for that lad in the smithy.  Let us slip out and see what
+we can see."
+
+There were two rough-haired, unkempt horses in the tumble-down
+stable.  Holmes raised the hind leg of one of them and laughed aloud.
+
+"Old shoes, but newly shod -- old shoes, but new nails.  This
+case deserves to be a classic.  Let us go across to the smithy."
+
+The lad continued his work without regarding us.  I saw Holmes's
+eye darting to right and left among the litter of iron and wood
+which was scattered about the floor.  Suddenly, however, we
+heard a step behind us, and there was the landlord, his heavy
+eyebrows drawn over his savage eyes, his swarthy features
+convulsed with passion.  He held a short, metal-headed stick
+in his hand, and he advanced in so menacing a fashion that I was
+right glad to feel the revolver in my pocket.
+
+"You infernal spies!" the man cried.  "What are you doing there?"
+
+"Why, Mr. Reuben Hayes," said Holmes, coolly, "one might think
+that you were afraid of our finding something out."
+
+The man mastered himself with a violent effort, and his grim mouth
+loosened into a false laugh, which was more menacing than his frown.
+
+"You're welcome to all you can find out in my smithy," said he.
+"But look here, mister, I don't care for folk poking about my
+place without my leave, so the sooner you pay your score and get
+out of this the better I shall be pleased."
+
+"All right, Mr. Hayes -- no harm meant," said Holmes.
+"We have been having a look at your horses, but I think I'll
+walk after all.  It's not far, I believe."
+
+"Not more than two miles to the Hall gates.  That's the road
+to the left."  He watched us with sullen eyes until we had
+left his premises.
+
+We did not go very far along the road, for Holmes stopped
+the instant that the curve hid us from the landlord's view.
+
+"We were warm, as the children say, at that inn," said he.
+"I seem to grow colder every step that I take away from it.
+No, no; I can't possibly leave it."
+
+"I am convinced," said I, "that this Reuben Hayes knows
+all about it.  A more self-evident villain I never saw."
+
+"Oh! he impressed you in that way, did he?  There are the horses,
+there is the smithy.  Yes, it is an interesting place,
+this Fighting Cock.  I think we shall have another look at it
+in an unobtrusive way."
+
+A long, sloping hillside, dotted with grey limestone boulders,
+stretched behind us.  We had turned off the road, and were
+making our way up the hill, when, looking in the direction
+of Holdernesse Hall, I saw a cyclist coming swiftly along.
+
+"Get down, Watson!" cried Holmes, with a heavy hand upon my
+shoulder.  We had hardly sunk from view when the man flew past
+us on the road.  Amid a rolling cloud of dust I caught a glimpse
+of a pale, agitated face -- a face with horror in every
+lineament, the mouth open, the eyes staring wildly in front.
+It was like some strange caricature of the dapper James Wilder
+whom we had seen the night before.
+
+"The Duke's secretary!" cried Holmes.  "Come, Watson, let us see
+what he does."
+
+We scrambled from rock to rock until in a few moments we had
+made our way to a point from which we could see the front door
+of the inn.  Wilder's bicycle was leaning against the wall
+beside it.  No one was moving about the house, nor could we
+catch a glimpse of any faces at the windows.  Slowly the
+twilight crept down as the sun sank behind the high towers of
+Holdernesse Hall.  Then in the gloom we saw the two side-lamps
+of a trap light up in the stable yard of the inn, and shortly
+afterwards heard the rattle of hoofs, as it wheeled out into the
+road and tore off at a furious pace in the direction of Chesterfield.
+
+"What do you make of that, Watson?" Holmes whispered.
+
+"It looks like a flight."
+
+"A single man in a dog-cart, so far as I could see.  Well, it
+certainly was not Mr. James Wilder, for there he is at the door."
+
+A red square of light had sprung out of the darkness.  In the
+middle of it was the black figure of the secretary, his head
+advanced, peering out into the night.  It was evident that he
+was expecting someone.  Then at last there were steps in the
+road, a second figure was visible for an instant against the
+light, the door shut, and all was black once more.  Five minutes
+later a lamp was lit in a room upon the first floor.
+
+"It seems to be a curious class of custom that is done by the
+Fighting Cock," said Holmes.
+
+"The bar is on the other side."
+
+"Quite so.  These are what one may call the private guests.
+Now, what in the world is Mr. James Wilder doing in that den at
+this hour of night, and who is the companion who comes to meet
+him there?  Come, Watson, we must really take a risk and try to
+investigate this a little more closely."
+
+Together we stole down to the road and crept across to the
+door of the inn.  The bicycle still leaned against the wall.
+Holmes struck a match and held it to the back wheel, and I
+heard him chuckle as the light fell upon a patched Dunlop tyre.
+Up above us was the lighted window.
+
+"I must have a peep through that, Watson.  If you bend your back
+and support yourself upon the wall, I think that I can manage."
+
+An instant later his feet were on my shoulders.
+But he was hardly up before he was down again.
+
+"Come, my friend," said he, "our day's work has been quite long
+enough.  I think that we have gathered all that we can.  It's a
+long walk to the school, and the sooner we get started the better."
+
+He hardly opened his lips during that weary trudge across the moor,
+nor would he enter the school when he reached it, but went on to
+Mackleton Station, whence he could send some telegrams.
+Late at night I heard him consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the
+tragedy of his master's death, and later still he entered my room
+as alert and vigorous as he had been when he started in the morning.
+"All goes well, my friend," said he.  "I promise that before
+to-morrow evening we shall have reached the solution of the mystery."
+
+
+At eleven o'clock next morning my friend and I were walking
+up the famous yew avenue of Holdernesse Hall.  We were ushered
+through the magnificent Elizabethan doorway and into his Grace's
+study.  There we found Mr. James Wilder, demure and courtly, but
+with some trace of that wild terror of the night before still
+lurking in his furtive eyes and in his twitching features.
+
+"You have come to see his Grace?  I am sorry; but the fact is
+that the Duke is far from well.  He has been very much upset
+by the tragic news.  We received a telegram from Dr. Huxtable
+yesterday afternoon, which told us of your discovery."
+
+"I must see the Duke, Mr. Wilder."
+
+"But he is in his room."
+
+"Then I must go to his room."
+
+"I believe he is in his bed."
+
+"I will see him there."
+
+Holmes's cold and inexorable manner showed the secretary that
+it was useless to argue with him.
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes; I will tell him that you are here."
+
+After half an hour's delay the great nobleman appeared.
+His face was more cadaverous than ever, his shoulders had rounded,
+and he seemed to me to be an altogether older man than he had been
+the morning before.  He greeted us with a stately courtesy and seated
+himself at his desk, his red beard streaming down on to the table.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes?" said he.
+
+But my friend's eyes were fixed upon the secretary, who stood by
+his master's chair.
+
+"I think, your Grace, that I could speak more freely in
+Mr. Wilder's absence."
+
+The man turned a shade paler and cast a malignant glance at Holmes.
+
+"If your Grace wishes ----"
+
+"Yes, yes; you had better go.  Now, Mr. Holmes, what have you to say?"
+
+My friend waited until the door had closed behind the
+retreating secretary.
+
+"The fact is, your Grace," said he, "that my colleague,
+Dr. Watson, and myself had an assurance from Dr. Huxtable
+that a reward had been offered in this case.  I should like
+to have this confirmed from your own lips."
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"It amounted, if I am correctly informed, to five thousand pounds
+to anyone who will tell you where your son is?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And another thousand to the man who will name the person
+or persons who keep him in custody?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Under the latter heading is included, no doubt, not only those
+who may have taken him away, but also those who conspire to keep
+him in his present position?"
+
+"Yes, yes," cried the Duke, impatiently.  "If you do your work
+well, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you will have no reason to complain
+of niggardly treatment."
+
+My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of
+avidity which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
+
+"I fancy that I see your Grace's cheque-book upon the table,"
+said he.  "I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque
+for six thousand pounds.  It would be as well, perhaps, for you
+to cross it.  The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch,
+are my agents."
+
+His Grace sat very stern and upright in his chair, and looked
+stonily at my friend.
+
+"Is this a joke, Mr. Holmes?  It is hardly a subject for pleasantry."
+
+"Not at all, your Grace.  I was never more earnest in my life."
+
+"What do you mean, then?"
+
+"I mean that I have earned the reward.  I know where your son is,
+and I know some, at least, of those who are holding him."
+
+The Duke's beard had turned more aggressively red than ever
+against his ghastly white face.
+
+"Where is he?" he gasped.
+
+"He is, or was last night, at the Fighting Cock Inn, about two
+miles from your park gate."
+
+The Duke fell back in his chair.
+
+"And whom do you accuse?"
+
+Sherlock Holmes's answer was an astounding one.  He stepped
+swiftly forward and touched the Duke upon the shoulder.
+
+"I accuse YOU," said he.  "And now, your Grace, I'll trouble you
+for that cheque."
+
+Never shall I forget the Duke's appearance as he sprang up and
+clawed with his hands like one who is sinking into an abyss.
+Then, with an extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command,
+he sat down and sank his face in his hands.  It was some minutes
+before he spoke.
+
+"How much do you know?" he asked at last, without raising his head.
+
+"I saw you together last night."
+
+"Does anyone else besides your friend know?"
+
+"I have spoken to no one."
+
+The Duke took a pen in his quivering fingers and opened
+his cheque-book.
+
+"I shall be as good as my word, Mr. Holmes.  I am about to write
+your cheque, however unwelcome the information which you have
+gained may be to me.  When the offer was first made I little
+thought the turn which events might take.  But you and your
+friend are men of discretion, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I hardly understand your Grace."
+
+"I must put it plainly, Mr. Holmes.  If only you two know of
+this incident, there is no reason why it should go any farther.
+I think twelve thousand pounds is the sum that I owe you, is it not?"
+
+But Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"I fear, your Grace, that matters can hardly be arranged so easily.
+There is the death of this schoolmaster to be accounted for."
+
+"But James knew nothing of that.  You cannot hold him
+responsible for that.  It was the work of this brutal ruffian
+whom he had the misfortune to employ."
+
+"I must take the view, your Grace, that when a man embarks
+upon a crime he is morally guilty of any other crime which
+may spring from it."
+
+"Morally, Mr. Holmes.  No doubt you are right.  But surely not
+in the eyes of the law.  A man cannot be condemned for a murder
+at which he was not present, and which he loathes and abhors
+as much as you do.  The instant that he heard of it he made
+a complete confession to me, so filled was he with horror and
+remorse.  He lost not an hour in breaking entirely with the
+murderer.  Oh, Mr. Holmes, you must save him -- you must save
+him!  I tell you that you must save him!"  The Duke had dropped
+the last attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room with
+a convulsed face and with his clenched hands raving in the air.
+At last he mastered himself and sat down once more at his desk.
+"I appreciate your conduct in coming here before you spoke to
+anyone else," said he.  "At least, we may take counsel how far
+we can minimize this hideous scandal."
+
+"Exactly," said Holmes.  "I think, your Grace, that this can
+only be done by absolute and complete frankness between us.
+I am disposed to help your Grace to the best of my ability; but
+in order to do so I must understand to the last detail how the
+matter stands.  I realize that your words applied to Mr. James
+Wilder, and that he is not the murderer."
+
+"No; the murderer has escaped."
+
+Sherlock Holmes smiled demurely.
+
+"Your Grace can hardly have heard of any small reputation which
+I possess, or you would not imagine that it is so easy to escape me.
+Mr. Reuben Hayes was arrested at Chesterfield on my information
+at eleven o'clock last night.  I had a telegram from the head
+of the local police before I left the school this morning."
+
+The Duke leaned back in his chair and stared with amazement
+at my friend.
+
+"You seem to have powers that are hardly human," said he.
+"So Reuben Hayes is taken?  I am right glad to hear it,
+if it will not react upon the fate of James."
+
+"Your secretary?"
+
+"No, sir; my son."
+
+It was Holmes's turn to look astonished.
+
+"I confess that this is entirely new to me, your Grace.
+I must beg you to be more explicit."
+
+"I will conceal nothing from you.  I agree with you that
+complete frankness, however painful it may be to me, is the
+best policy in this desperate situation to which James's folly
+and jealousy have reduced us.  When I was a very young man,
+Mr. Holmes, I loved with such a love as comes only once in
+a lifetime.  I offered the lady marriage, but she refused
+it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career.
+Had she lived I would certainly never have married anyone else.
+She died, and left this one child, whom for her sake I have
+cherished and cared for.  I could not acknowledge the paternity
+to the world; but I gave him the best of educations, and since
+he came to manhood I have kept him near my person.  He surprised
+my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the claim which he
+has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal, which
+would be abhorrent to me.  His presence had something to do with
+the unhappy issue of my marriage.  Above all, he hated my young
+legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred.
+You may well ask me why, under these circumstances, I still kept
+James under my roof.  I answer that it was because I could see
+his mother's face in his, and that for her dear sake there was
+no end to my long-suffering.  All her pretty ways, too -- there
+was not one of them which he could not suggest and bring back
+to my memory.  I COULD not send him away.  But I feared so much
+lest he should do Arthur -- that is, Lord Saltire -- a mischief
+that I dispatched him for safety to Dr. Huxtable's school.
+
+"James came into contact with this fellow Hayes because the man
+was a tenant of mine, and James acted as agent.  The fellow was
+a rascal from the beginning; but in some extraordinary way
+James became intimate with him.  He had always a taste for low
+company.  When James determined to kidnap Lord Saltire it was
+of this man's service that he availed himself.  You remember
+that I wrote to Arthur upon that last day.  Well, James opened
+the letter and inserted a note asking Arthur to meet him in a
+little wood called the Ragged Shaw, which is near to the school.
+He used the Duchess's name, and in that way got the boy to come.
+That evening James bicycled over -- I am telling you what he has
+himself confessed to me -- and he told Arthur, whom he met in
+the wood, that his mother longed to see him, that she was
+awaiting him on the moor, and that if he would come back into
+the wood at midnight he would find a man with a horse, who would
+take him to her.  Poor Arthur fell into the trap.  He came to
+the appointment and found this fellow Hayes with a led pony.
+Arthur mounted, and they set off together.  It appears -- though
+this James only heard yesterday -- that they were pursued,
+that Hayes struck the pursuer with his stick, and that the man
+died of his injuries.  Hayes brought Arthur to his public-house,
+the Fighting Cock, where he was confined in an upper room,
+under the care of Mrs. Hayes, who is a kindly woman,
+but entirely under the control of her brutal husband.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, that was the state of affairs when I first
+saw you two days ago.  I had no more idea of the truth than you.
+You will ask me what was James's motive in doing such a deed.
+I answer that there was a great deal which was unreasoning and
+fanatical in the hatred which he bore my heir.  In his view he
+should himself have been heir of all my estates, and he deeply
+resented those social laws which made it impossible.  At the
+same time he had a definite motive also.  He was eager that
+I should break the entail, and he was of opinion that it lay
+in my power to do so.  He intended to make a bargain with me --
+to restore Arthur if I would break the entail, and so make it
+possible for the estate to be left to him by will.  He knew well
+that I should never willingly invoke the aid of the police
+against him.  I say that he would have proposed such a bargain
+to me, but he did not actually do so, for events moved too quickly
+for him, and he had not time to put his plans into practice.
+
+"What brought all his wicked scheme to wreck was your discovery
+of this man Heidegger's dead body.  James was seized with horror
+at the news.  It came to us yesterday as we sat together in
+this study.  Dr. Huxtable had sent a telegram.  James was so
+overwhelmed with grief and agitation that my suspicions, which
+had never been entirely absent, rose instantly to a certainty,
+and I taxed him with the deed.  He made a complete voluntary
+confession.  Then he implored me to keep his secret for three
+days longer, so as to give his wretched accomplice a chance of
+saving his guilty life.  I yielded -- as I have always yielded
+-- to his prayers, and instantly James hurried off to the
+Fighting Cock to warn Hayes and give him the means of flight.
+I could not go there by daylight without provoking comment,
+but as soon as night fell I hurried off to see my dear Arthur.
+I found him safe and well, but horrified beyond expression by the
+dreadful deed he had witnessed.  In deference to my promise, and
+much against my will, I consented to leave him there for three
+days under the charge of Mrs. Hayes, since it was evident that
+it was impossible to inform the police where he was without
+telling them also who was the murderer, and I could not see how
+that murderer could be punished without ruin to my unfortunate
+James.  You asked for frankness, Mr. Holmes, and I have taken
+you at your word, for I have now told you everything without
+an attempt at circumlocution or concealment.  Do you in turn
+be as frank with me."
+
+"I will," said Holmes.  "In the first place, your Grace,
+I am bound to tell you that you have placed yourself in a most
+serious position in the eyes of the law.  You have condoned a
+felony and you have aided the escape of a murderer; for I cannot
+doubt that any money which was taken by James Wilder to aid his
+accomplice in his flight came from your Grace's purse."
+
+The Duke bowed his assent.
+
+"This is indeed a most serious matter.  Even more culpable in my
+opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son.
+You leave him in this den for three days."
+
+"Under solemn promises ----"
+
+"What are promises to such people as these?  You have no guarantee
+that he will not be spirited away again.  To humour your guilty
+elder son you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent
+and unnecessary danger.  It was a most unjustifiable action."
+
+The proud lord of Holdernesse was not accustomed to be so rated
+in his own ducal hall.  The blood flushed into his high forehead,
+but his conscience held him dumb.
+
+"I will help you, but on one condition only.  It is that you
+ring for the footman and let me give such orders as I like."
+
+Without a word the Duke pressed the electric bell.
+A servant entered.
+
+"You will be glad to hear," said Holmes, "that your young master
+is found.  It is the Duke's desire that the carriage shall go at
+once to the Fighting Cock Inn to bring Lord Saltire home.
+
+"Now," said Holmes, when the rejoicing lackey had disappeared,
+"having secured the future, we can afford to be more lenient
+with the past.  I am not in an official position, and there
+is no reason, so long as the ends of justice are served, why I
+should disclose all that I know.  As to Hayes I say nothing.
+The gallows awaits him, and I would do nothing to save him from
+it.  What he will divulge I cannot tell, but I have no doubt
+that your Grace could make him understand that it is to his
+interest to be silent.  From the police point of view he will
+have kidnapped the boy for the purpose of ransom.  If they do
+not themselves find it out I see no reason why I should prompt
+them to take a broader point of view.  I would warn your Grace,
+however, that the continued presence of Mr. James Wilder in
+your household can only lead to misfortune."
+
+"I understand that, Mr. Holmes, and it is already settled that
+he shall leave me for ever and go to seek his fortune in Australia."
+
+"In that case, your Grace, since you have yourself stated that
+any unhappiness in your married life was caused by his presence,
+I would suggest that you make such amends as you can to the
+Duchess, and that you try to resume those relations which have
+been so unhappily interrupted."
+
+"That also I have arranged, Mr. Holmes.  I wrote to the Duchess
+this morning."
+
+"In that case," said Holmes, rising, "I think that my friend and
+I can congratulate ourselves upon several most happy results
+from our little visit to the North.  There is one other small
+point upon which I desire some light.  This fellow Hayes had
+shod his horses with shoes which counterfeited the tracks of cows.
+Was it from Mr. Wilder that he learned so extraordinary a device?"
+
+The Duke stood in thought for a moment, with a look of intense
+surprise on his face.  Then he opened a door and showed us into
+a large room furnished as a museum.  He led the way to a glass
+case in a corner, and pointed to the inscription.
+
+"These shoes," it ran, "were dug up in the moat of Holdernesse
+Hall.  They are for the use of horses; but they are shaped below
+with a cloven foot of iron, so as to throw pursuers off the
+track.  They are supposed to have belonged to some of the
+marauding Barons of Holdernesse in the Middle Ages."
+
+Holmes opened the case, and moistening his finger he passed it
+along the shoe.  A thin film of recent mud was left upon his skin.
+
+"Thank you," said he, as he replaced the glass.  "It is the
+second most interesting object that I have seen in the North."
+
+"And the first?"
+
+Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his
+note-book.  "I am a poor man," said he, as he patted it
+affectionately and thrust it into the depths of his inner pocket.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MARCH, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VI. --- The Adventure of Black Peter.
+
+
+I HAVE never known my friend to be in better form, both mental
+and physical, than in the year '95.  His increasing fame had
+brought with it an immense practice, and I should be guilty of
+an indiscretion if I were even to hint at the identity of some
+of the illustrious clients who crossed our humble threshold in
+Baker Street.  Holmes, however, like all great artists, lived
+for his art's sake, and, save in the case of the Duke of
+Holdernesse, I have seldom known him claim any large reward
+for his inestimable services.  So unworldly was he -- or so
+capricious -- that he frequently refused his help to the
+powerful and wealthy where the problem made no appeal to his
+sympathies, while he would devote weeks of most intense
+application to the affairs of some humble client whose case
+presented those strange and dramatic qualities which appealed
+to his imagination and challenged his ingenuity.
+
+In this memorable year '95 a curious and incongruous succession
+of cases had engaged his attention, ranging from his famous
+investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca -- an
+inquiry which was carried out by him at the express desire of
+His Holiness the Pope -- down to his arrest of Wilson, the
+notorious canary-trainer, which removed a plague-spot from the
+East-End of London.  Close on the heels of these two famous
+cases came the tragedy of Woodman's Lee, and the very obscure
+circumstances which surrounded the death of Captain Peter Carey.
+No record of the doings of Mr. Sherlock Holmes would be complete
+which did not include some account of this very unusual affair.
+
+During the first week of July my friend had been absent so often
+and so long from our lodgings that I knew he had something on
+hand.  The fact that several rough-looking men called during
+that time and inquired for Captain Basil made me understand that
+Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises
+and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity.
+He had at least five small refuges in different parts of London in
+which he was able to change his personality.  He said nothing of
+his business to me, and it was not my habit to force a confidence.
+The first positive sign which he gave me of the direction
+which his investigation was taking was an extraordinary one.
+He had gone out before breakfast, and I had sat down to mine,
+when he strode into the room, his hat upon his head and a huge
+barbed-headed spear tucked like an umbrella under his arm.
+
+"Good gracious, Holmes!" I cried.  "You don't mean to say
+that you have been walking about London with that thing?"
+
+"I drove to the butcher's and back."
+
+"The butcher's?"
+
+"And I return with an excellent appetite.  There can be no
+question, my dear Watson, of the value of exercise before
+breakfast.  But I am prepared to bet that you will not guess
+the form that my exercise has taken."
+
+"I will not attempt it."
+
+He chuckled as he poured out the coffee.
+
+"If you could have looked into Allardyce's back shop you would
+have seen a dead pig swung from a hook in the ceiling, and a
+gentleman in his shirt-sleeves furiously stabbing at it with
+this weapon.  I was that energetic person, and I have satisfied
+myself that by no exertion of my strength can I transfix the pig
+with a single blow.  Perhaps you would care to try?"
+
+"Not for worlds.  But why were you doing this?"
+
+"Because it seemed to me to have an indirect bearing upon the
+mystery of Woodman's Lee.  Ah, Hopkins, I got your wire last
+night, and I have been expecting you.  Come and join us."
+
+Our visitor was an exceedingly alert man, thirty years of age,
+dressed in a quiet tweed suit, but retaining the erect bearing
+of one who was accustomed to official uniform.  I recognised him
+at once as Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector for whose
+future Holmes had high hopes, while he in turn professed the
+admiration and respect of a pupil for the scientific methods of
+the famous amateur.  Hopkins's brow was clouded, and he sat down
+with an air of deep dejection.
+
+"No, thank you, sir.  I breakfasted before I came round.
+I spent the night in town, for I came up yesterday to report."
+
+"And what had you to report?"
+
+"Failure, sir; absolute failure."
+
+"You have made no progress?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Dear me!  I must have a look at the matter."
+
+"I wish to heavens that you would, Mr. Holmes.  It's my first
+big chance, and I am at my wit's end.  For goodness' sake come
+down and lend me a hand."
+
+"Well, well, it just happens that I have already read all the
+available evidence, including the report of the inquest, with
+some care.  By the way, what do you make of that tobacco-pouch
+found on the scene of the crime?  Is there no clue there?"
+
+Hopkins looked surprised.
+
+"It was the man's own pouch, sir.  His initials were inside it.
+And it was of seal-skin -- and he an old sealer."
+
+"But he had no pipe."
+
+"No, sir, we could find no pipe; indeed, he smoked very little.
+And yet he might have kept some tobacco for his friends."
+
+"No doubt.  I only mention it because if I had been handling the
+case I should have been inclined to make that the starting-point
+of my investigation.  However, my friend Dr. Watson knows
+nothing of this matter, and I should be none the worse for
+hearing the sequence of events once more.  Just give us some
+short sketch of the essentials."
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew a slip of paper from his pocket.
+
+"I have a few dates here which will give you the career of the
+dead man, Captain Peter Carey.  He was born in '45 -- fifty
+years of age.  He was a most daring and successful seal and
+whale fisher.  In 1883 he commanded the steam sealer SEA UNICORN,
+of Dundee.  He had then had several successful voyages
+in succession, and in the following year, 1884, he retired.
+After that he travelled for some years, and finally he bought
+a small place called Woodman's Lee, near Forest Row, in Sussex.
+There he has lived for six years, and there he died just a week
+ago to-day.
+
+"There were some most singular points about the man.
+In ordinary life he was a strict Puritan -- a silent, gloomy
+fellow.  His household consisted of his wife, his daughter,
+aged twenty, and two female servants.  These last were continually
+changing, for it was never a very cheery situation, and sometimes
+it became past all bearing.  The man was an intermittent drunkard,
+and when he had the fit on him he was a perfect fiend.
+He has been known to drive his wife and his daughter out of doors
+in the middle of the night, and flog them through the park until
+the whole village outside the gates was aroused by their screams.
+
+"He was summoned once for a savage assault upon the old vicar,
+who had called upon him to remonstrate with him upon his
+conduct.  In short, Mr. Holmes, you would go far before you
+found a more dangerous man than Peter Carey, and I have heard
+that he bore the same character when he commanded his ship.
+He was known in the trade as Black Peter, and the name was given
+him, not only on account of his swarthy features and the colour
+of his huge beard, but for the humours which were the terror of
+all around him.  I need not say that he was loathed and avoided
+by every one of his neighbours, and that I have not heard one
+single word of sorrow about his terrible end.
+
+"You must have read in the account of the inquest about the
+man's cabin, Mr. Holmes; but perhaps your friend here has not
+heard of it.  He had built himself a wooden outhouse -- he
+always called it `the cabin' -- a few hundred yards from his
+house, and it was here that he slept every night.  It was a
+little, single-roomed hut, sixteen feet by ten.  He kept the key
+in his pocket, made his own bed, cleaned it himself, and allowed
+no other foot to cross the threshold.  There are small windows
+on each side, which were covered by curtains and never opened.
+One of these windows was turned towards the high road, and when
+the light burned in it at night the folk used to point it out
+to each other and wonder what Black Peter was doing in there.
+That's the window, Mr. Holmes, which gave us one of the few bits
+of positive evidence that came out at the inquest.
+
+"You remember that a stonemason, named Slater, walking from
+Forest Row about one o'clock in the morning -- two days before
+the murder -- stopped as he passed the grounds and looked at the
+square of light still shining among the trees.  He swears that
+the shadow of a man's head turned sideways was clearly visible
+on the blind, and that this shadow was certainly not that of
+Peter Carey, whom he knew well.  It was that of a bearded man,
+but the beard was short and bristled forwards in a way very
+different from that of the captain.  So he says, but he had
+been two hours in the public-house, and it is some distance from
+the road to the window.  Besides, this refers to the Monday,
+and the crime was done upon the Wednesday.
+
+"On the Tuesday Peter Carey was in one of his blackest moods,
+flushed with drink and as savage as a dangerous wild beast.
+He roamed about the house, and the women ran for it when they
+heard him coming.  Late in the evening he went down to his own hut.
+About two o'clock the following morning his daughter, who slept
+with her window open, heard a most fearful yell from that
+direction, but it was no unusual thing for him to bawl and shout
+when he was in drink, so no notice was taken.  On rising at
+seven one of the maids noticed that the door of the hut was open,
+but so great was the terror which the man caused that it
+was midday before anyone would venture down to see what had
+become of him.  Peeping into the open door they saw a sight
+which sent them flying with white faces into the village.
+Within an hour I was on the spot and had taken over the case.
+
+"Well, I have fairly steady nerves, as you know, Mr. Holmes,
+but I give you my word that I got a shake when I put my head into
+that little house.  It was droning like a harmonium with the
+flies and bluebottles, and the floor and walls were like a
+slaughter-house.  He had called it a cabin, and a cabin it was
+sure enough, for you would have thought that you were in a ship.
+There was a bunk at one end, a sea-chest, maps and charts,
+a picture of the SEA UNICORN, a line of log-books on a shelf,
+all exactly as one would expect to find it in a captain's room.
+And there in the middle of it was the man himself, his face twisted
+like a lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck
+upwards in his agony.  Right through his broad breast a steel
+harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood of
+the wall behind him.  He was pinned like a beetle on a card.
+Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant
+that he had uttered that last yell of agony.
+
+"I know your methods, sir, and I applied them.
+Before I permitted anything to be moved I examined most
+carefully the ground outside, and also the floor of the room.
+There were no footmarks."
+
+"Meaning that you saw none?"
+
+"I assure you, sir, that there were none."
+
+"My good Hopkins, I have investigated many crimes, but I have
+never yet seen one which was committed by a flying creature.
+As long as the criminal remains upon two legs so long must there
+be some indentation, some abrasion, some trifling displacement
+which can be detected by the scientific searcher.  It is
+incredible that this blood-bespattered room contained no trace
+which could have aided us.  I understand, however, from the
+inquest that there were some objects which you failed to overlook?"
+
+The young inspector winced at my companion's ironical comments.
+
+"I was a fool not to call you in at the time, Mr. Holmes.
+However, that's past praying for now.  Yes, there were several
+objects in the room which called for special attention.
+One was the harpoon with which the deed was committed.
+It had been snatched down from a rack on the wall.
+Two others remained there, and there was a vacant place for
+the third.  On the stock was engraved `Ss. SEA UNICORN, Dundee.'
+This seemed to establish that the crime had been done in a moment
+of fury, and that the murderer had seized the first weapon which
+came in his way.  The fact that the crime was committed at two
+in the morning, and yet Peter Carey was fully dressed, suggested
+that he had an appointment with the murderer, which is borne out
+by the fact that a bottle of rum and two dirty glasses stood upon
+the table."
+
+"Yes," said Holmes; "I think that both inferences are permissible.
+Was there any other spirit but rum in the room?"
+
+"Yes; there was a tantalus containing brandy and whisky on the
+sea-chest.  It is of no importance to us, however, since the
+decanters were full, and it had therefore not been used."
+
+"For all that its presence has some significance," said Holmes.
+"However, let us hear some more about the objects which do seem
+to you to bear upon the case."
+
+"There was this tobacco-pouch upon the table."
+
+"What part of the table?"
+
+"It lay in the middle.  It was of coarse seal-skin --
+the straight-haired skin, with a leather thong to bind it.
+Inside was `P.C.' on the flap.  There was half an ounce of
+strong ship's tobacco in it."
+
+"Excellent!  What more?"
+
+Stanley Hopkins drew from his pocket a drab-covered note-book.
+The outside was rough and worn, the leaves discoloured.
+On the first page were written the initials "J.H.N." and the
+date "1883."  Holmes laid it on the table and examined it in
+his minute way, while Hopkins and I gazed over each shoulder.
+On the second page were the printed letters "C.P.R.," and then
+came several sheets of numbers.  Another heading was Argentine,
+another Costa Rica, and another San Paulo, each with pages of
+signs and figures after it.
+
+"What do you make of these?" asked Holmes.
+
+"They appear to be lists of Stock Exchange securities.
+I thought that `J.H.N.' were the initials of a broker,
+and that `C.P.R.' may have been his client."
+
+"Try Canadian Pacific Railway," said Holmes.
+
+Stanley Hopkins swore between his teeth and struck his thigh
+with his clenched hand.
+
+"What a fool I have been!" he cried.  "Of course, it is as
+you say.  Then `J.H.N.' are the only initials we have to solve.
+I have already examined the old Stock Exchange lists, and I can
+find no one in 1883 either in the House or among the outside
+brokers whose initials correspond with these.  Yet I feel that
+the clue is the most important one that I hold.  You will admit,
+Mr. Holmes, that there is a possibility that these initials are
+those of the second person who was present -- in other words,
+of the murderer.  I would also urge that the introduction into
+the case of a document relating to large masses of valuable
+securities gives us for the first time some indication of a
+motive for the crime."
+
+Sherlock Holmes's face showed that he was thoroughly taken aback
+by this new development.
+
+"I must admit both your points," said he.  "I confess that this
+note-book, which did not appear at the inquest, modifies any
+views which I may have formed.  I had come to a theory of the
+crime in which I can find no place for this.  Have you
+endeavoured to trace any of the securities here mentioned?"
+
+"Inquiries are now being made at the offices, but I fear that
+the complete register of the stockholders of these South
+American concerns is in South America, and that some weeks must
+elapse before we can trace the shares."
+
+Holmes had been examining the cover of the note-book with his
+magnifying lens.
+
+"Surely there is some discolouration here," said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a blood-stain.  I told you that I picked
+the book off the floor."
+
+"Was the blood-stain above or below?"
+
+"On the side next the boards."
+
+"Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after
+the crime was committed."
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes.  I appreciated that point,
+and I conjectured that it was dropped by the murderer
+in his hurried flight.  It lay near the door."
+
+"I suppose that none of these securities have been found among
+the property of the dead man?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect robbery?"
+
+"No, sir.  Nothing seemed to have been touched."
+
+"Dear me, it is certainly a very interesting case.
+Then there was a knife, was there not?"
+
+"A sheath-knife, still in its sheath.  It lay at the feet
+of the dead man.  Mrs. Carey has identified it as being her
+husband's property."
+
+Holmes was lost in thought for some time.
+
+"Well," said he, at last, "I suppose I shall have to come out
+and have a look at it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins gave a cry of joy.
+
+"Thank you, sir.  That will indeed be a weight off my mind."
+
+Holmes shook his finger at the inspector.
+
+"It would have been an easier task a week ago," said he.
+"But even now my visit may not be entirely fruitless.  Watson,
+if you can spare the time I should be very glad of your company.
+If you will call a four-wheeler, Hopkins, we shall be ready to
+start for Forest Row in a quarter of an hour."
+
+
+Alighting at the small wayside station, we drove for some miles
+through the remains of widespread woods, which were once part of
+that great forest which for so long held the Saxon invaders at
+bay -- the impenetrable "weald," for sixty years the bulwark of
+Britain.  Vast sections of it have been cleared, for this is the
+seat of the first iron-works of the country, and the trees have
+been felled to smelt the ore.  Now the richer fields of the
+North have absorbed the trade, and nothing save these ravaged
+groves and great scars in the earth show the work of the past.
+Here in a clearing upon the green slope of a hill stood a long,
+low stone house, approached by a curving drive running through
+the fields.  Nearer the road, and surrounded on three sides
+by bushes, was a small outhouse, one window and the door facing
+in our direction.  It was the scene of the murder!
+
+Stanley Hopkins led us first to the house, where he introduced
+us to a haggard, grey-haired woman, the widow of the murdered
+man, whose gaunt and deep-lined face, with the furtive look of
+terror in the depths of her red-rimmed eyes, told of the years
+of hardship and ill-usage which she had endured.  With her was
+her daughter, a pale, fair-haired girl, whose eyes blazed
+defiantly at us as she told us that she was glad that her father
+was dead, and that she blessed the hand which had struck him
+down.  It was a terrible household that Black Peter Carey had
+made for himself, and it was with a sense of relief that we
+found ourselves in the sunlight again and making our way along
+a path which had been worn across the fields by the feet of
+the dead man.
+
+The outhouse was the simplest of dwellings, wooden-walled,
+shingle-roofed, one window beside the door and one on the
+farther side.  Stanley Hopkins drew the key from his pocket,
+and had stooped to the lock, when he paused with a look of
+attention and surprise upon his face.
+
+"Someone has been tampering with it," he said.
+
+There could be no doubt of the fact.  The woodwork was cut and
+the scratches showed white through the paint, as if they had
+been that instant done.  Holmes had been examining the window.
+
+"Someone has tried to force this also.  Whoever it was has failed
+to make his way in.  He must have been a very poor burglar."
+
+"This is a most extraordinary thing," said the inspector;
+"I could swear that these marks were not here yesterday evening."
+
+"Some curious person from the village, perhaps," I suggested.
+
+"Very unlikely.  Few of them would dare to set foot in the
+grounds, far less try to force their way into the cabin.
+What do you think of it, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I think that fortune is very kind to us."
+
+"You mean that the person will come again?"
+
+"It is very probable.  He came expecting to find the door open.
+He tried to get in with the blade of a very small penknife.
+He could not manage it.  What would he do?"
+
+"Come again next night with a more useful tool."
+
+"So I should say.  It will be our fault if we are not there
+to receive him.  Meanwhile, let me see the inside of the cabin."
+
+The traces of the tragedy had been removed, but the furniture
+within the little room still stood as it had been on the night
+of the crime.  For two hours, with most intense concentration,
+Holmes examined every object in turn, but his face showed that
+his quest was not a successful one.  Once only he paused in his
+patient investigation.
+
+"Have you taken anything off this shelf, Hopkins?"
+
+"No; I have moved nothing."
+
+"Something has been taken.  There is less dust in this corner of
+the shelf than elsewhere.  It may have been a book lying on its
+side.  It may have been a box.  Well, well, I can do nothing
+more.  Let us walk in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a
+few hours to the birds and the flowers.  We shall meet you here
+later, Hopkins, and see if we can come to closer quarters with
+the gentleman who has paid this visit in the night."
+
+It was past eleven o'clock when we formed our little ambuscade.
+Hopkins was for leaving the door of the hut open, but Holmes
+was of the opinion that this would rouse the suspicions of the
+stranger.  The lock was a perfectly simple one, and only a
+strong blade was needed to push it back.  Holmes also suggested
+that we should wait, not inside the hut, but outside it among
+the bushes which grew round the farther window.  In this way we
+should be able to watch our man if he struck a light, and see
+what his object was in this stealthy nocturnal visit.
+
+It was a long and melancholy vigil, and yet brought with it
+something of the thrill which the hunter feels when he lies
+beside the water pool and waits for the coming of the thirsty
+beast of prey.  What savage creature was it which might steal
+upon us out of the darkness?  Was it a fierce tiger of crime,
+which could only be taken fighting hard with flashing fang and
+claw, or would it prove to be some skulking jackal, dangerous
+only to the weak and unguarded?
+
+In absolute silence we crouched amongst the bushes, waiting
+for whatever might come.  At first the steps of a few belated
+villagers, or the sound of voices from the village, lightened
+our vigil; but one by one these interruptions died away and an
+absolute stillness fell upon us, save for the chimes of the
+distant church, which told us of the progress of the night,
+and for the rustle and whisper of a fine rain falling amid the
+foliage which roofed us in.
+
+Half-past two had chimed, and it was the darkest hour which
+precedes the dawn, when we all started as a low but sharp click
+came from the direction of the gate.  Someone had entered the
+drive.  Again there was a long silence, and I had begun to fear
+that it was a false alarm, when a stealthy step was heard upon
+the other side of the hut, and a moment later a metallic
+scraping and clinking.  The man was trying to force the lock!
+This time his skill was greater or his tool was better,
+for there was a sudden snap and the creak of the hinges.
+Then a match was struck, and next instant the steady light from
+a candle filled the interior of the hut.  Through the gauze
+curtain our eyes were all riveted upon the scene within.
+
+The nocturnal visitor was a young man, frail and thin, with a
+black moustache which intensified the deadly pallor of his face.
+He could not have been much above twenty years of age.  I have
+never seen any human being who appeared to be in such a pitiable
+fright, for his teeth were visibly chattering and he was shaking
+in every limb.  He was dressed like a gentleman, in Norfolk
+jacket and knickerbockers, with a cloth cap upon his head.
+We watched him staring round with frightened eyes.  Then he laid
+the candle-end upon the table and disappeared from our view into
+one of the corners.  He returned with a large book, one of the
+log-books which formed a line upon the shelves.  Leaning on the
+table he rapidly turned over the leaves of this volume until he
+came to the entry which he sought.  Then, with an angry gesture
+of his clenched hand, he closed the book, replaced it in the
+corner, and put out the light.  He had hardly turned to leave
+the hut when Hopkins's hand was on the fellow's collar, and I
+heard his loud gasp of terror as he understood that he was
+taken.  The candle was re-lit, and there was our wretched
+captive shivering and cowering in the grasp of the detective.
+He sank down upon the sea-chest, and looked helplessly from one
+of us to the other.
+
+"Now, my fine fellow," said Stanley Hopkins, "who are you,
+and what do you want here?"
+
+The man pulled himself together and faced us with an effort
+at self-composure.
+
+"You are detectives, I suppose?" said he.  "You imagine I am
+connected with the death of Captain Peter Carey.  I assure you
+that I am innocent."
+
+"We'll see about that," said Hopkins.
+"First of all, what is your name?"
+
+"It is John Hopley Neligan."
+
+I saw Holmes and Hopkins exchange a quick glance.
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Can I speak confidentially?"
+
+"No, certainly not."
+
+"Why should I tell you?"
+
+"If you have no answer it may go badly with you at the trial."
+
+The young man winced.
+
+"Well, I will tell you," he said.  "Why should I not?  And yet
+I hate to think of this old scandal gaining a new lease of life.
+Did you ever hear of Dawson and Neligan?"
+
+I could see from Hopkins's face that he never had; but Holmes
+was keenly interested.
+
+"You mean the West-country bankers," said he.  "They failed
+for a million, ruined half the county families of Cornwall,
+and Neligan disappeared."
+
+"Exactly.  Neligan was my father."
+
+At last we were getting something positive, and yet it seemed
+a long gap between an absconding banker and Captain Peter Carey
+pinned against the wall with one of his own harpoons.  We all
+listened intently to the young man's words.
+
+"It was my father who was really concerned.  Dawson had retired.
+I was only ten years of age at the time, but I was old enough to
+feel the shame and horror of it all.  It has always been said
+that my father stole all the securities and fled.  It is not
+true.  It was his belief that if he were given time in which to
+realize them all would be well and every creditor paid in full.
+He started in his little yacht for Norway just before the
+warrant was issued for his arrest.  I can remember that last
+night when he bade farewell to my mother.  He left us a list of
+the securities he was taking, and he swore that he would come
+back with his honour cleared, and that none who had trusted him
+would suffer.  Well, no word was ever heard from him again.
+Both the yacht and he vanished utterly.  We believed, my mother
+and I, that he and it, with the securities that he had taken
+with him, were at the bottom of the sea.  We had a faithful
+friend, however, who is a business man, and it was he who
+discovered some time ago that some of the securities which my
+father had with him have reappeared on the London market.
+You can imagine our amazement.  I spent months in trying to
+trace them, and at last, after many doublings and difficulties,
+I discovered that the original seller had been Captain Peter
+Carey, the owner of this hut.
+
+"Naturally, I made some inquiries about the man.  I found that
+he had been in command of a whaler which was due to return from
+the Arctic seas at the very time when my father was crossing to
+Norway.  The autumn of that year was a stormy one, and there was
+a long succession of southerly gales.  My father's yacht may
+well have been blown to the north, and there met by Captain
+Peter Carey's ship.  If that were so, what had become of my
+father?  In any case, if I could prove from Peter Carey's
+evidence how these securities came on the market it would be a
+proof that my father had not sold them, and that he had no view
+to personal profit when he took them.
+
+"I came down to Sussex with the intention of seeing the captain,
+but it was at this moment that his terrible death occurred.
+I read at the inquest a description of his cabin, in which it
+stated that the old log-books of his vessel were preserved in it.
+It struck me that if I could see what occurred in the month
+of August, 1883, on board the SEA UNICORN, I might settle the
+mystery of my father's fate.  I tried last night to get at these
+log-books, but was unable to open the door.  To-night I tried
+again, and succeeded; but I find that the pages which deal with
+that month have been torn from the book.  It was at that moment
+I found myself a prisoner in your hands."
+
+"Is that all?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"Yes, that is all."  His eyes shifted as he said it.
+
+"You have nothing else to tell us?"
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"No; there is nothing."
+
+"You have not been here before last night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then how do you account for THAT?" cried Hopkins, as he held up
+the damning note-book, with the initials of our prisoner on the
+first leaf and the blood-stain on the cover.
+
+The wretched man collapsed.  He sank his face in his hands and
+trembled all over.
+
+"Where did you get it?" he groaned.  "I did not know.
+I thought I had lost it at the hotel."
+
+"That is enough," said Hopkins, sternly.  "Whatever else you
+have to say you must say in court.  You will walk down with me
+now to the police-station.  Well, Mr. Holmes, I am very much
+obliged to you and to your friend for coming down to help me.
+As it turns out your presence was unnecessary, and I would have
+brought the case to this successful issue without you; but none
+the less I am very grateful.  Rooms have been reserved for you
+at the Brambletye Hotel, so we can all walk down to the village
+together."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" asked Holmes,
+as we travelled back next morning.
+
+"I can see that you are not satisfied."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear Watson, I am perfectly satisfied.  At the same
+time Stanley Hopkins's methods do not commend themselves to me.
+I am disappointed in Stanley Hopkins.  I had hoped for better
+things from him.  One should always look for a possible
+alternative and provide against it.  It is the first rule of
+criminal investigation."
+
+"What, then, is the alternative?"
+
+"The line of investigation which I have myself been pursuing.
+It may give us nothing.  I cannot tell.  But at least I shall
+follow it to the end."
+
+Several letters were waiting for Holmes at Baker Street.
+He snatched one of them up, opened it, and burst out into
+a triumphant chuckle of laughter.
+
+"Excellent, Watson.  The alternative develops.  Have you
+telegraph forms?  Just write a couple of messages for me:
+`Sumner, Shipping Agent, Ratcliff Highway.  Send three men on,
+to arrive ten to-morrow morning. -- Basil.'  That's my name in
+those parts.  The other is:  `Inspector Stanley Hopkins, 46,
+Lord Street, Brixton.  Come breakfast to-morrow at nine-thirty.
+Important.  Wire if unable to come. -- Sherlock Holmes.'
+There, Watson, this infernal case has haunted me for ten days.
+I hereby banish it completely from my presence.  To-morrow
+I trust that we shall hear the last of it for ever."
+
+Sharp at the hour named Inspector Stanley Hopkins appeared,
+and we sat down together to the excellent breakfast which
+Mrs. Hudson had prepared.  The young detective was in high
+spirits at his success.
+
+"You really think that your solution must be correct?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I could not imagine a more complete case."
+
+"It did not seem to me conclusive."
+
+"You astonish me, Mr. Holmes.  What more could one ask for?"
+
+"Does your explanation cover every point?"
+
+"Undoubtedly.  I find that young Neligan arrived at the
+Brambletye Hotel on the very day of the crime.  He came on
+the pretence of playing golf.  His room was on the ground-floor,
+and he could get out when he liked.  That very night he went down
+to Woodman's Lee, saw Peter Carey at the hut, quarrelled with him,
+and killed him with the harpoon.  Then, horrified by what he had
+done, he fled out of the hut, dropping the note-book which he
+had brought with him in order to question Peter Carey about
+these different securities.  You may have observed that some of
+them were marked with ticks, and the others -- the great
+majority -- were not.  Those which are ticked have been traced
+on the London market; but the others presumably were still in
+the possession of Carey, and young Neligan, according to his own
+account, was anxious to recover them in order to do the right
+thing by his father's creditors.  After his flight he did not
+dare to approach the hut again for some time; but at last he
+forced himself to do so in order to obtain the information
+which he needed.  Surely that is all simple and obvious?"
+
+Holmes smiled and shook his head.
+
+"It seems to me to have only one drawback, Hopkins, and that
+is that it is intrinsically impossible.  Have you tried to drive
+a harpoon through a body?  No?  Tut, tut, my dear sir, you must
+really pay attention to these details.  My friend Watson could
+tell you that I spent a whole morning in that exercise.
+It is no easy matter, and requires a strong and practised arm.
+But this blow was delivered with such violence that the head of
+the weapon sank deep into the wall.  Do you imagine that this
+anaemic youth was capable of so frightful an assault?  Is he the
+man who hobnobbed in rum and water with Black Peter in the dead
+of the night?  Was it his profile that was seen on the blind two
+nights before?  No, no, Hopkins; it is another and a more
+formidable person for whom we must seek."
+
+The detective's face had grown longer and longer during Holmes's
+speech.  His hopes and his ambitions were all crumbling about him.
+But he would not abandon his position without a struggle.
+
+"You can't deny that Neligan was present that night, Mr. Holmes.
+The book will prove that.  I fancy that I have evidence enough
+to satisfy a jury, even if you are able to pick a hole in it.
+Besides, Mr. Holmes, I have laid my hand upon MY man.  As to
+this terrible person of yours, where is he?"
+
+"I rather fancy that he is on the stair," said Holmes, serenely.
+"I think, Watson, that you would do well to put that revolver
+where you can reach it."  He rose, and laid a written paper
+upon a side-table.  "Now we are ready," said he.
+
+There had been some talking in gruff voices outside, and now
+Mrs. Hudson opened the door to say that there were three men
+inquiring for Captain Basil.
+
+"Show them in one by one," said Holmes.
+
+The first who entered was a little ribston-pippin of a man,
+with ruddy cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers.  Holmes had
+drawn a letter from his pocket.
+
+"What name?" he asked.
+
+"James Lancaster."
+
+"I am sorry, Lancaster, but the berth is full.  Here is half a
+sovereign for your trouble.  Just step into this room and wait
+there for a few minutes."
+
+The second man was a long, dried-up creature, with lank hair and
+sallow cheeks.  His name was Hugh Pattins.  He also received his
+dismissal, his half-sovereign, and the order to wait.
+
+The third applicant was a man of remarkable appearance.
+A fierce bull-dog face was framed in a tangle of hair and beard,
+and two bold dark eyes gleamed behind the cover of thick, tufted,
+overhung eyebrows.  He saluted and stood sailor-fashion, turning
+his cap round in his hands.
+
+"Your name?" asked Holmes.
+
+"Patrick Cairns."
+
+"Harpooner?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Twenty-six voyages."
+
+"Dundee, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And ready to start with an exploring ship?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What wages?"
+
+"Eight pounds a month."
+
+"Could you start at once?"
+
+"As soon as I get my kit."
+
+"Have you your papers?"
+
+"Yes, sir."  He took a sheaf of worn and greasy forms from
+his pocket.  Holmes glanced over them and returned them.
+
+"You are just the man I want," said he.  "Here's the agreement
+on the side-table.  If you sign it the whole matter will be settled."
+
+The seaman lurched across the room and took up the pen.
+
+"Shall I sign here?" he asked, stooping over the table.
+
+Holmes leaned over his shoulder and passed both hands over his neck.
+
+"This will do," said he.
+
+I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull.
+The next instant Holmes and the seaman were rolling on the
+ground together.  He was a man of such gigantic strength that,
+even with the handcuffs which Holmes had so deftly fastened upon
+his wrists, he would have very quickly overpowered my friend had
+Hopkins and I not rushed to his rescue.  Only when I pressed the
+cold muzzle of the revolver to his temple did he at last
+understand that resistance was vain.  We lashed his ankles with
+cord and rose breathless from the struggle.
+
+"I must really apologize, Hopkins," said Sherlock Holmes;
+"I fear that the scrambled eggs are cold.  However, you will
+enjoy the rest of your breakfast all the better, will you not,
+for the thought that you have brought your case to a triumphant
+conclusion."
+
+Stanley Hopkins was speechless with amazement.
+
+"I don't know what to say, Mr. Holmes," he blurted out at last,
+with a very red face.  "It seems to me that I have been making
+a fool of myself from the beginning.  I understand now, what I
+should never have forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the
+master.  Even now I see what you have done, but I don't know how
+you did it, or what it signifies."
+
+"Well, well," said Holmes, good-humouredly.  "We all learn by
+experience, and your lesson this time is that you should never
+lose sight of the alternative.  You were so absorbed in young
+Neligan that you could not spare a thought to Patrick Cairns,
+the true murderer of Peter Carey."
+
+The hoarse voice of the seaman broke in on our conversation.
+
+"See here, mister," said he, "I make no complaint of
+being man-handled in this fashion, but I would have you call
+things by their right names.  You say I murdered Peter Carey;
+I say I KILLED Peter Carey, and there's all the difference.
+Maybe you don't believe what I say.  Maybe you think I am just
+slinging you a yarn."
+
+"Not at all," said Holmes.  "Let us hear what you have to say."
+
+"It's soon told, and, by the Lord, every word of it is truth.
+I knew Black Peter, and when he pulled out his knife I whipped
+a harpoon through him sharp, for I knew that it was him or me.
+That's how he died.  You can call it murder.  Anyhow, I'd as
+soon die with a rope round my neck as with Black Peter's knife
+in my heart."
+
+"How came you there?" asked Holmes.
+
+"I'll tell it you from the beginning.  Just sit me up a little
+so as I can speak easy.  It was in '83 that it happened --
+August of that year.  Peter Carey was master of the SEA UNICORN,
+and I was spare harpooner.  We were coming out of the ice-pack
+on our way home, with head winds and a week's southerly gale,
+when we picked up a little craft that had been blown north.
+There was one man on her -- a landsman.  The crew had thought
+she would founder, and had made for the Norwegian coast in the
+dinghy.  I guess they were all drowned.  Well, we took him on
+board, this man, and he and the skipper had some long talks in
+the cabin.  All the baggage we took off with him was one tin box.
+So far as I know, the man's name was never mentioned, and on the
+second night he disappeared as if he had never been.  It was
+given out that he had either thrown himself overboard or fallen
+overboard in the heavy weather that we were having.  Only one
+man knew what had happened to him, and that was me, for with my
+own eyes I saw the skipper tip up his heels and put him over the
+rail in the middle watch of a dark night, two days before we
+sighted the Shetland lights.
+
+"Well, I kept my knowledge to
+myself and waited to see what would come of it.  When we got
+back to Scotland it was easily hushed up, and nobody asked any
+questions.  A stranger died by an accident, and it was nobody's
+business to inquire.  Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea,
+and it was long years before I could find where he was.
+I guessed that he had done the deed for the sake of what was in
+that tin box, and that he could afford now to pay me well for
+keeping my mouth shut.
+
+"I found out where he was through a sailor man that had met him
+in London, and down I went to squeeze him.  The first night he
+was reasonable enough, and was ready to give me what would make
+me free of the sea for life.  We were to fix it all two nights
+later.  When I came I found him three parts drunk and in a vile
+temper.  We sat down and we drank and we yarned about old times,
+but the more he drank the less I liked the look on his face.
+I spotted that harpoon upon the wall, and I thought I might
+need it before I was through.  Then at last he broke out at me,
+spitting and cursing, with murder in his eyes and a great
+clasp-knife in his hand.  He had not time to get it from the
+sheath before I had the harpoon through him.  Heavens! what
+a yell he gave; and his face gets between me and my sleep!
+I stood there, with his blood splashing round me, and I waited
+for a bit; but all was quiet, so I took heart once more.
+I looked round, and there was the tin box on a shelf.  I had as
+much right to it as Peter Carey, anyhow, so I took it with me and
+left the hut.  Like a fool I left my baccy-pouch upon the table.
+
+"Now I'll tell you the queerest part of the whole story.
+I had hardly got outside the hut when I heard someone coming,
+and I hid among the bushes.  A man came slinking along,
+went into the hut, gave a cry as if he had seen a ghost,
+and legged it as hard as he could run until he was out of sight.
+Who he was or what he wanted is more than I can tell.
+For my part I walked ten miles, got a train at Tunbridge Wells,
+and so reached London, and no one the wiser.
+
+"Well, when I came to examine the box I found there was no money
+in it, and nothing but papers that I would not dare to sell.
+I had lost my hold on Black Peter, and was stranded in London
+without a shilling.  There was only my trade left.  I saw these
+advertisements about harpooners and high wages, so I went to
+the shipping agents, and they sent me here.  That's all I know,
+and I say again that if I killed Black Peter the law should give
+me thanks, for I saved them the price of a hempen rope."
+
+"A very clear statement," said Holmes, rising and lighting
+his pipe.  "I think, Hopkins, that you should lose no time
+in conveying your prisoner to a place of safety.  This room
+is not well adapted for a cell, and Mr. Patrick Cairns occupies
+too large a proportion of our carpet."
+
+"Mr. Holmes," said Hopkins, "I do not know how to express
+my gratitude.  Even now I do not understand how you attained
+this result."
+
+"Simply by having the good fortune to get the right clue from
+the beginning.  It is very possible if I had known about this
+note-book it might have led away my thoughts, as it did yours.
+But all I heard pointed in the one direction.  The amazing
+strength, the skill in the use of the harpoon, the rum and
+water, the seal-skin tobacco-pouch, with the coarse tobacco --
+all these pointed to a seaman, and one who had been a whaler.
+I was convinced that the initials `P.C.' upon the pouch were
+a coincidence, and not those of Peter Carey, since he seldom
+smoked, and no pipe was found in his cabin.  You remember that
+I asked whether whisky and brandy were in the cabin.  You said
+they were.  How many landsmen are there who would drink rum when
+they could get these other spirits?  Yes, I was certain it was
+a seaman."
+
+"And how did you find him?"
+
+"My dear sir, the problem had become a very simple one.  If it
+were a seaman, it could only be a seaman who had been with him
+on the SEA UNICORN.  So far as I could learn he had sailed in no
+other ship.  I spent three days in wiring to Dundee, and at the
+end of that time I had ascertained the names of the crew of the
+SEA UNICORN in 1883.  When I found Patrick Cairns among the
+harpooners my research was nearing its end.  I argued that the
+man was probably in London, and that he would desire to leave
+the country for a time.  I therefore spent some days in the
+East-end, devised an Arctic expedition, put forth tempting terms
+for harpooners who would serve under Captain Basil -- and behold
+the result!"
+
+"Wonderful!" cried Hopkins.  "Wonderful!"
+
+"You must obtain the release of young Neligan as soon as possible,"
+said Holmes.  "I confess that I think you owe him some apology.
+The tin box must be returned to him, but, of course, the securities
+which Peter Carey has sold are lost for ever.  There's the cab,
+Hopkins, and you can remove your man.  If you want me for the trial,
+my address and that of Watson will be somewhere in Norway --
+I'll send particulars later."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  APRIL, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VII. --- The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.
+
+
+IT is years since the incidents of which I speak took place,
+and yet it is with diffidence that I allude to them.  For a long
+time, even with the utmost discretion and reticence, it would
+have been impossible to make the facts public; but now the
+principal person concerned is beyond the reach of human law,
+and with due suppression the story may be told in such fashion
+as to injure no one.  It records an absolutely unique experience
+in the career both of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of myself.  The
+reader will excuse me if I conceal the date or any other fact
+by which he might trace the actual occurrence.
+
+We had been out for one of our evening rambles, Holmes and I,
+and had returned about six o'clock on a cold, frosty winter's
+evening.  As Holmes turned up the lamp the light fell upon
+a card on the table.  He glanced at it, and then, with an
+ejaculation of disgust, threw it on the floor.
+I picked it up and read:--
+
+             CHARLES AUGUSTUS MILVERTON,
+                  APPLEDORE TOWERS,
+            AGENT.              HAMPSTEAD.
+
+"Who is he?" I asked.
+
+"The worst man in London," Holmes answered, as he sat down and
+stretched his legs before the fire.  "Is anything on the back
+of the card?"
+
+I turned it over.
+
+"Will call at 6.30 -- C.A.M.," I read.
+
+"Hum!  He's about due.  Do you feel a creeping, shrinking
+sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the
+Zoo and see the slithery, gliding, venomous creatures, with
+their deadly eyes and wicked, flattened faces?  Well, that's how
+Milverton impresses me.  I've had to do with fifty murderers in
+my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion
+which I have for this fellow.  And yet I can't get out of doing
+business with him -- indeed, he is here at my invitation."
+
+"But who is he?"
+
+"I'll tell you, Watson.  He is the king of all the blackmailers.
+Heaven help the man, and still more the woman, whose secret and
+reputation come into the power of Milverton.  With a smiling
+face and a heart of marble he will squeeze and squeeze until he
+has drained them dry.  The fellow is a genius in his way, and
+would have made his mark in some more savoury trade.  His method
+is as follows:  He allows it to be known that he is prepared to
+pay very high sums for letters which compromise people of wealth
+or position.  He receives these wares not only from treacherous
+valets or maids, but frequently from genteel ruffians who have
+gained the confidence and affection of trusting women.
+He deals with no niggard hand.  I happen to know that he paid
+seven hundred pounds to a footman for a note two lines in length,
+and that the ruin of a noble family was the result.  Everything
+which is in the market goes to Milverton, and there are hundreds
+in this great city who turn white at his name.  No one knows
+where his grip may fall, for he is far too rich and far too
+cunning to work from hand to mouth.  He will hold a card back
+for years in order to play it at the moment when the stake is
+best worth winning.  I have said that he is the worst man in
+London, and I would ask you how could one compare the ruffian
+who in hot blood bludgeons his mate with this man, who
+methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings
+the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?"
+
+I had seldom heard my friend speak with such intensity of feeling.
+
+"But surely," said I, "the fellow must be within the grasp
+of the law?"
+
+"Technically, no doubt, but practically not.  What would it
+profit a woman, for example, to get him a few months'
+imprisonment if her own ruin must immediately follow?  His
+victims dare not hit back.  If ever he blackmailed an innocent
+person, then, indeed, we should have him; but he is as cunning
+as the Evil One.  No, no; we must find other ways to fight him."
+
+"And why is he here?"
+
+"Because an illustrious client has placed her piteous case
+in my hands.  It is the Lady Eva Brackwell, the most beautiful
+DEBUTANTE of last season.  She is to be married in a fortnight
+to the Earl of Dovercourt.  This fiend has several imprudent
+letters -- imprudent, Watson, nothing worse -- which were
+written to an impecunious young squire in the country.
+They would suffice to break off the match.  Milverton will send
+the letters to the Earl unless a large sum of money is paid him.
+I have been commissioned to meet him, and -- to make the best
+terms I can."
+
+At that instant there was a clatter and a rattle in the street
+below.  Looking down I saw a stately carriage and pair, the
+brilliant lamps gleaming on the glossy haunches of the noble
+chestnuts.  A footman opened the door, and a small, stout man
+in a shaggy astrachan overcoat descended.  A minute later he
+was in the room.
+
+Charles Augustus Milverton was a man of fifty, with a large,
+intellectual head, a round, plump, hairless face, a perpetual
+frozen smile, and two keen grey eyes, which gleamed brightly
+from behind broad, golden-rimmed glasses.  There was something
+of Mr. Pickwick's benevolence in his appearance, marred only by
+the insincerity of the fixed smile and by the hard glitter of
+those restless and penetrating eyes.  His voice was as smooth
+and suave as his countenance, as he advanced with a plump little
+hand extended, murmuring his regret for having missed us at his
+first visit.  Holmes disregarded the outstretched hand and
+looked at him with a face of granite.  Milverton's smile
+broadened; he shrugged his shoulders, removed his overcoat,
+folded it with great deliberation over the back of a chair,
+and then took a seat.
+
+"This gentleman?" said he, with a wave in my direction.
+"Is it discreet?  Is it right?"
+
+"Dr. Watson is my friend and partner."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes.  It is only in your client's interests
+that I protested.  The matter is so very delicate ----"
+
+"Dr. Watson has already heard of it."
+
+"Then we can proceed to business.  You say that you are acting
+for Lady Eva.  Has she empowered you to accept my terms?"
+
+"What are your terms?"
+
+"Seven thousand pounds."
+
+"And the alternative?"
+
+"My dear sir, it is painful for me to discuss it; but if the
+money is not paid on the 14th there certainly will be no
+marriage on the 18th."  His insufferable smile was more
+complacent than ever.
+
+Holmes thought for a little.
+
+"You appear to me," he said, at last, "to be taking matters too
+much for granted.  I am, of course, familiar with the contents
+of these letters.  My client will certainly do what I may
+advise.  I shall counsel her to tell her future husband the
+whole story and to trust to his generosity."
+
+Milverton chuckled.
+
+"You evidently do not know the Earl," said he.
+
+From the baffled look upon Holmes's face I could see clearly
+that he did.
+
+"What harm is there in the letters?" he asked.
+
+"They are sprightly -- very sprightly," Milverton answered.
+"The lady was a charming correspondent.  But I can assure you
+that the Earl of Dovercourt would fail to appreciate them.
+However, since you think otherwise, we will let it rest at that.
+It is purely a matter of business.  If you think that it is in
+the best interests of your client that these letters should
+be placed in the hands of the Earl, then you would indeed be
+foolish to pay so large a sum of money to regain them."
+He rose and seized his astrachan coat.
+
+Holmes was grey with anger and mortification.
+
+"Wait a little," he said.  "You go too fast.  We would certainly
+make every effort to avoid scandal in so delicate a matter."
+
+Milverton relapsed into his chair.
+
+"I was sure that you would see it in that light," he purred.
+
+"At the same time," Holmes continued, "Lady Eva is not a wealthy
+woman.  I assure you that two thousand pounds would be a drain
+upon her resources, and that the sum you name is utterly beyond
+her power.  I beg, therefore, that you will moderate your
+demands, and that you will return the letters at the price I
+indicate, which is, I assure you, the highest that you can get."
+
+Milverton's smile broadened and his eyes twinkled humorously.
+
+"I am aware that what you say is true about the lady's
+resources," said he.  "At the same time, you must admit that
+the occasion of a lady's marriage is a very suitable time for
+her friends and relatives to make some little effort upon her
+behalf.  They may hesitate as to an acceptable wedding present.
+Let me assure them that this little bundle of letters would give
+more joy than all the candelabra and butter-dishes in London."
+
+"It is impossible," said Holmes.
+
+"Dear me, dear me, how unfortunate!" cried Milverton, taking out
+a bulky pocket-book.  "I cannot help thinking that ladies are
+ill-advised in not making an effort.  Look at this!"  He held up
+a little note with a coat-of-arms upon the envelope.  "That
+belongs to -- well, perhaps it is hardly fair to tell the name
+until to-morrow morning.  But at that time it will be in the
+hands of the lady's husband.  And all because she will not find
+a beggarly sum which she could get by turning her diamonds into
+paste.  It IS such a pity.  Now, you remember the sudden end of
+the engagement between the Honourable Miss Miles and Colonel
+Dorking?  Only two days before the wedding there was a
+paragraph in the MORNING POST to say that it was all off.
+And why?  It is almost incredible, but the absurd sum of twelve
+hundred pounds would have settled the whole question.
+Is it not pitiful?  And here I find you, a man of sense,
+boggling about terms when your client's future and honour are
+at stake.  You surprise me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"What I say is true," Holmes answered.  "The money cannot be
+found.  Surely it is better for you to take the substantial sum
+which I offer than to ruin this woman's career, which can profit
+you in no way?"
+
+"There you make a mistake, Mr. Holmes.  An exposure would profit
+me indirectly to a considerable extent.  I have eight or ten
+similar cases maturing.  If it was circulated among them that
+I had made a severe example of the Lady Eva I should find all of
+them much more open to reason.  You see my point?"
+
+Holmes sprang from his chair.
+
+"Get behind him, Watson!  Don't let him out!  Now, sir, let us
+see the contents of that note-book."
+
+Milverton had glided as quick as a rat to the side of the room,
+and stood with his back against the wall.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, Mr. Holmes," he said, turning the front of his coat
+and exhibiting the butt of a large revolver, which projected
+from the inside pocket.  "I have been expecting you to do
+something original.  This has been done so often, and what good
+has ever come from it?  I assure you that I am armed to the
+teeth, and I am perfectly prepared to use my weapons, knowing
+that the law will support me.  Besides, your supposition that
+I would bring the letters here in a note-book is entirely
+mistaken.  I would do nothing so foolish.  And now, gentlemen,
+I have one or two little interviews this evening, and it is a
+long drive to Hampstead."  He stepped forward, took up his coat,
+laid his hand on his revolver, and turned to the door.  I picked
+up a chair, but Holmes shook his head and I laid it down again.
+With bow, a smile, and a twinkle Milverton was out of the room,
+and a few moments after we heard the slam of the carriage door
+and the rattle of the wheels as he drove away.
+
+Holmes sat motionless by the fire, his hands buried deep in his
+trouser pockets, his chin sunk upon his breast, his eyes fixed
+upon the glowing embers.  For half an hour he was silent and
+still.  Then, with the gesture of a man who has taken his
+decision, he sprang to his feet and passed into his bedroom.
+A little later a rakish young workman with a goatee beard and a
+swagger lit his clay pipe at the lamp before descending into the
+street.  "I'll be back some time, Watson," said he, and vanished
+into the night.  I understood that he had opened his campaign
+against Charles Augustus Milverton; but I little dreamed the
+strange shape which that campaign was destined to take.
+
+For some days Holmes came and went at all hours in this attire,
+but beyond a remark that his time was spent at Hampstead,
+and that it was not wasted, I knew nothing of what he was doing.
+At last, however, on a wild, tempestuous evening, when the wind
+screamed and rattled against the windows, he returned from his
+last expedition, and having removed his disguise he sat before
+the fire and laughed heartily in his silent inward fashion.
+
+"You would not call me a marrying man, Watson?"
+
+"No, indeed!"
+
+"You'll be interested to hear that I am engaged."
+
+"My dear fellow!  I congrat ----"
+
+"To Milverton's housemaid."
+
+"Good heavens, Holmes!"
+
+"I wanted information, Watson."
+
+"Surely you have gone too far?"
+
+"It was a most necessary step.  I am a plumber with a rising
+business, Escott by name.  I have walked out with her each
+evening, and I have talked with her.  Good heavens, those talks!
+However, I have got all I wanted.  I know Milverton's house as
+I know the palm of my hand."
+
+"But the girl, Holmes?"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"You can't help it, my dear Watson.  You must play your cards
+as best you can when such a stake is on the table.  However,
+I rejoice to say that I have a hated rival who will certainly
+cut me out the instant that my back is turned.  What a splendid
+night it is!"
+
+"You like this weather?"
+
+"It suits my purpose.  Watson, I mean to burgle Milverton's
+house to-night."
+
+I had a catching of the breath, and my skin went cold at the
+words, which were slowly uttered in a tone of concentrated
+resolution.  As a flash of lightning in the night shows up in
+an instant every detail of a wide landscape, so at one glance
+I seemed to see every possible result of such an action -- the
+detection, the capture, the honoured career ending in
+irreparable failure and disgrace, my friend himself lying at
+the mercy of the odious Milverton.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, Holmes, think what you are doing," I cried.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have given it every consideration.  I am
+never precipitate in my actions, nor would I adopt so energetic
+and indeed so dangerous a course if any other were possible.
+Let us look at the matter clearly and fairly.  I suppose that
+you will admit that the action is morally justifiable, though
+technically criminal.  To burgle his house is no more than to
+forcibly take his pocket-book -- an action in which you were
+prepared to aid me."
+
+I turned it over in my mind.
+
+"Yes," I said; "it is morally justifiable so long as our object
+is to take no articles save those which are used for an illegal
+purpose."
+
+"Exactly.  Since it is morally justifiable I have only to
+consider the question of personal risk.  Surely a gentleman
+should not lay much stress upon this when a lady is in most
+desperate need of his help?"
+
+"You will be in such a false position."
+
+"Well, that is part of the risk.  There is no other possible way
+of regaining these letters.  The unfortunate lady has not the
+money, and there are none of her people in whom she could
+confide.  To-morrow is the last day of grace, and unless we can
+get the letters to-night this villain will be as good as his
+word and will bring about her ruin.  I must, therefore, abandon
+my client to her fate or I must play this last card.  Between
+ourselves, Watson, it's a sporting duel between this fellow
+Milverton and me.  He had, as you saw, the best of the first
+exchanges; but my self-respect and my reputation are concerned
+to fight it to a finish."
+
+"Well, I don't like it; but I suppose it must be," said I.
+"When do we start?"
+
+"You are not coming."
+
+"Then you are not going," said I.  "I give you my word of honour
+-- and I never broke it in my life -- that I will take a cab
+straight to the police-station and give you away unless you let
+me share this adventure with you."
+
+"You can't help me."
+
+"How do you know that?  You can't tell what may happen.
+Anyway, my resolution is taken.  Other people beside you
+have self-respect and even reputations."
+
+Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped
+me on the shoulder.
+
+"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so.  We have shared the
+same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended
+by sharing the same cell.  You know, Watson, I don't mind
+confessing to you that I have always had an idea that I would
+have made a highly efficient criminal.  This is the chance of my
+lifetime in that direction.  See here!"  He took a neat little
+leather case out of a drawer, and opening it he exhibited
+a number of shining instruments.  "This is a first-class,
+up-to-date burgling kit, with nickel-plated jemmy, diamond-tipped
+glass-cutter, adaptable keys, and every modern improvement which
+the march of civilization demands.  Here, too, is my dark lantern.
+Everything is in order.  Have you a pair of silent shoes?"
+
+"I have rubber-soled tennis shoes."
+
+"Excellent.  And a mask?"
+
+"I can make a couple out of black silk."
+
+"I can see that you have a strong natural turn for this sort
+of thing.  Very good; do you make the masks.  We shall have some
+cold supper before we start.  It is now nine-thirty.  At eleven
+we shall drive as far as Church Row.  It is a quarter of an
+hour's walk from there to Appledore Towers.  We shall be at work
+before midnight.  Milverton is a heavy sleeper and retires
+punctually at ten-thirty.  With any luck we should be back here
+by two, with the Lady Eva's letters in my pocket."
+
+Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might
+appear to be two theatre-goers homeward bound.  In Oxford Street
+we picked up a hansom and drove to an address in Hampstead.
+Here we paid off our cab, and with our great-coats buttoned up,
+for it was bitterly cold and the wind seemed to blow through us,
+we walked along the edge of the Heath.
+
+"It's a business that needs delicate treatment," said Holmes.
+"These documents are contained in a safe in the fellow's study,
+and the study is the ante-room of his bed-chamber.  On the other
+hand, like all these stout, little men who do themselves well,
+he is a plethoric sleeper.  Agatha -- that's my FIANCEE -- says
+it is a joke in the servants' hall that it's impossible to wake
+the master.  He has a secretary who is devoted to his interests
+and never budges from the study all day.  That's why we are
+going at night.  Then he has a beast of a dog which roams the
+garden.  I met Agatha late the last two evenings, and she locks
+the brute up so as to give me a clear run.  This is the house,
+this big one in its own grounds.  Through the gate -- now to
+the right among the laurels.  We might put on our masks here,
+I think.  You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any of
+the windows, and everything is working splendidly."
+
+With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of
+the most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent,
+gloomy house.  A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side
+of it, lined by several windows and two doors.
+
+"That's his bedroom," Holmes whispered.  "This door opens
+straight into the study.  It would suit us best, but it is
+bolted as well as locked, and we should make too much noise
+getting in.  Come round here.  There's a greenhouse which
+opens into the drawing-room."
+
+The place was locked, but Holmes removed a circle of glass and
+turned the key from the inside.  An instant afterwards he had
+closed the door behind us, and we had become felons in the eyes
+of the law.  The thick, warm air of the conservatory and the
+rich, choking fragrance of exotic plants took us by the throat.
+He seized my hand in the darkness and led me swiftly past banks
+of shrubs which brushed against our faces.  Holmes had
+remarkable powers, carefully cultivated, of seeing in the dark.
+Still holding my hand in one of his he opened a door, and I was
+vaguely conscious that we had entered a large room in which a
+cigar had been smoked not long before.  He felt his way among
+the furniture, opened another door, and closed it behind us.
+Putting out my hand I felt several coats hanging from the wall,
+and I understood that I was in a passage.  We passed along it,
+and Holmes very gently opened a door upon the right-hand side.
+Something rushed out at us and my heart sprang into my mouth,
+but I could have laughed when I realized that it was the cat.
+A fire was burning in this new room, and again the air was heavy
+with tobacco smoke.  Holmes entered on tiptoe, waited for me
+to follow, and then very gently closed the door.  We were in
+Milverton's study, and a PORTIERE at the farther side showed
+the entrance to his bedroom.
+
+It was a good fire, and the room was illuminated by it.
+Near the door I saw the gleam of an electric switch, but it
+was unnecessary, even if it had been safe, to turn it on.
+At one side of the fireplace was a heavy curtain, which covered
+the bay window we had seen from outside.  On the other side was
+the door which communicated with the veranda.  A desk stood in the
+centre, with a turning chair of shining red leather.  Opposite
+was a large bookcase, with a marble bust of Athene on the top.
+In the corner between the bookcase and the wall there stood a
+tall green safe, the firelight flashing back from the polished
+brass knobs upon its face.  Holmes stole across and looked at
+it.  Then he crept to the door of the bedroom, and stood with
+slanting head listening intently.  No sound came from within.
+Meanwhile it had struck me that it would be wise to secure our
+retreat through the outer door, so I examined it.  To my
+amazement it was neither locked nor bolted!  I touched Holmes
+on the arm, and he turned his masked face in that direction.
+I saw him start, and he was evidently as surprised as I.
+
+"I don't like it," he whispered, putting his lips to my very ear.
+"I can't quite make it out.  Anyhow, we have no time to lose."
+
+"Can I do anything?"
+
+"Yes; stand by the door.  If you hear anyone come, bolt it
+on the inside, and we can get away as we came.  If they come
+the other way, we can get through the door if our job is done,
+or hide behind these window curtains if it is not.  Do you
+understand?"
+
+I nodded and stood by the door.  My first feeling of fear had
+passed away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had
+ever enjoyed when we were the defenders of the law instead of
+its defiers.  The high object of our mission, the consciousness
+that it was unselfish and chivalrous, the villainous character
+of our opponent, all added to the sporting interest of the
+adventure.  Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and exulted
+in our dangers.  With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes
+unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the
+calm, scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate
+operation.  I knew that the opening of safes was a particular
+hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be
+confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which
+held in its maw the reputations of many fair ladies.  Turning up
+the cuffs of his dress-coat -- he had placed his overcoat on a
+chair -- Holmes laid out two drills, a jemmy, and several
+skeleton keys.  I stood at the centre door with my eyes glancing
+at each of the others, ready for any emergency; though, indeed,
+my plans were somewhat vague as to what I should do if we were
+interrupted.  For half an hour Holmes worked with concentrated
+energy, laying down one tool, picking up another, handling each
+with the strength and delicacy of the trained mechanic.  Finally
+I heard a click, the broad green door swung open, and inside
+I had a glimpse of a number of paper packets, each tied, sealed,
+and inscribed.  Holmes picked one out, but it was hard to read
+by the flickering fire, and he drew out his little dark lantern,
+for it was too dangerous, with Milverton in the next room, to
+switch on the electric light.  Suddenly I saw him halt, listen
+intently, and then in an instant he had swung the door of the
+safe to, picked up his coat, stuffed his tools into the pockets,
+and darted behind the window curtain, motioning me to do the same.
+
+It was only when I had joined him there that I heard what had
+alarmed his quicker senses.  There was a noise somewhere within
+the house.  A door slammed in the distance.  Then a confused,
+dull murmur broke itself into the measured thud of heavy
+footsteps rapidly approaching.  They were in the passage outside
+the room.  They paused at the door.  The door opened.  There was
+a sharp snick as the electric light was turned on.  The door
+closed once more, and the pungent reek of a strong cigar was
+borne to our nostrils.  Then the footsteps continued backwards
+and forwards, backwards and forwards, within a few yards of us.
+Finally, there was a creak from a chair, and the footsteps ceased.
+Then a key clicked in a lock and I heard the rustle of papers.
+
+So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the
+division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through.
+From the pressure of Holmes's shoulder against mine I knew
+that he was sharing my observations.  Right in front of us,
+and almost within our reach, was the broad, rounded back of
+Milverton.  It was evident that we had entirely miscalculated
+his movements, that he had never been to his bedroom, but that
+he had been sitting up in some smoking or billiard room in the
+farther wing of the house, the windows of which we had not seen.
+His broad, grizzled head, with its shining patch of baldness,
+was in the immediate foreground of our vision.  He was leaning
+far back in the red leather chair, his legs outstretched, a long
+black cigar projecting at an angle from his mouth.  He wore a
+semi-military smoking jacket, claret-coloured, with a black
+velvet collar.  In his hand he held a long legal document, which
+he was reading in an indolent fashion, blowing rings of tobacco
+smoke from his lips as he did so.  There was no promise of a
+speedy departure in his composed bearing and his comfortable
+attitude.
+
+I felt Holmes's hand steal into mine and give me a reassuring
+shake, as if to say that the situation was within his powers and
+that he was easy in his mind.  I was not sure whether he had
+seen what was only too obvious from my position, that the door
+of the safe was imperfectly closed, and that Milverton might at
+any moment observe it.  In my own mind I had determined that if
+I were sure, from the rigidity of his gaze, that it had caught
+his eye, I would at once spring out, throw my great-coat
+over his head, pinion him, and leave the rest to Holmes.
+But Milverton never looked up.  He was languidly interested
+by the papers in his hand, and page after page was turned as he
+followed the argument of the lawyer.  At least, I thought, when
+he has finished the document and the cigar he will go to his
+room; but before he had reached the end of either there came
+a remarkable development which turned our thoughts into quite
+another channel.
+
+Several times I had observed that Milverton looked at his
+watch, and once he had risen and sat down again, with a gesture
+of impatience.  The idea, however, that he might have an
+appointment at so strange an hour never occurred to me until
+a faint sound reached my ears from the veranda outside.
+Milverton dropped his papers and sat rigid in his chair.
+The sound was repeated, and then there came a gentle tap
+at the door.  Milverton rose and opened it.
+
+"Well," said he, curtly, "you are nearly half an hour late."
+
+So this was the explanation of the unlocked door and of the
+nocturnal vigil of Milverton.  There was the gentle rustle of
+a woman's dress.  I had closed the slit between the curtains as
+Milverton's face had turned in our direction, but now I ventured
+very carefully to open it once more.  He had resumed his seat,
+the cigar still projecting at an insolent angle from the corner
+of his mouth.  In front of him, in the full glare of the
+electric light, there stood a tall, slim, dark woman, a veil
+over her face, a mantle drawn round her chin.  Her breath came
+quick and fast, and every inch of the lithe figure was quivering
+with strong emotion.
+
+"Well," said Milverton, "you've made me lose a good night's rest,
+my dear.  I hope you'll prove worth it.  You couldn't come any
+other time -- eh?"
+
+The woman shook her head.
+
+"Well, if you couldn't you couldn't.  If the Countess is a
+hard mistress you have your chance to get level with her now.
+Bless the girl, what are you shivering about?  That's right!
+Pull yourself together!  Now, let us get down to business."
+He took a note from the drawer of his desk.  "You say that
+you have five letters which compromise the Countess d'Albert.
+You want to sell them.  I want to buy them.  So far so good.
+It only remains to fix a price.  I should want to inspect the
+letters, of course.  If they are really good specimens ---
+Great heavens, is it you?"
+
+The woman without a word had raised her veil and dropped the
+mantle from her chin.  It was a dark, handsome, clear-cut face
+which confronted Milverton, a face with a curved nose, strong,
+dark eyebrows shading hard, glittering eyes, and a straight,
+thin-lipped mouth set in a dangerous smile.
+
+"It is I," she said; "the woman whose life you have ruined."
+
+Milverton laughed, but fear vibrated in his voice.  "You were
+so very obstinate," said he.  "Why did you drive me to such
+extremities?  I assure you I wouldn't hurt a fly of my own
+accord, but every man has his business, and what was I to do?
+I put the price well within your means.  You would not pay."
+
+"So you sent the letters to my husband, and he -- the noblest
+gentleman that ever lived, a man whose boots I was never worthy
+to lace -- he broke his gallant heart and died.  You remember
+that last night when I came through that door I begged and
+prayed you for mercy, and you laughed in my face as you are
+trying to laugh now, only your coward heart cannot keep your
+lips from twitching?  Yes, you never thought to see me here
+again, but it was that night which taught me how I could meet
+you face to face, and alone.  Well, Charles Milverton, what have
+you to say?"
+
+"Don't imagine that you can bully me," said he, rising to
+his feet.  "I have only to raise my voice, and I could call
+my servants and have you arrested.  But I will make allowance
+for your natural anger.  Leave the room at once as you came,
+and I will say no more."
+
+The woman stood with her hand buried in her bosom, and the same
+deadly smile on her thin lips.
+
+"You will ruin no more lives as you ruined mine.  You will wring
+no more hearts as you wrung mine.  I will free the world of a
+poisonous thing.  Take that, you hound, and that! -- and that!
+-- and that!"
+
+She had drawn a little, gleaming revolver, and emptied barrel
+after barrel into Milverton's body, the muzzle within two feet
+of his shirt front.  He shrank away and then fell forward upon
+the table, coughing furiously and clawing among the papers.
+Then he staggered to his feet, received another shot, and rolled
+upon the floor.  "You've done me," he cried, and lay still.
+The woman looked at him intently and ground her heel into his
+upturned face.  She looked again, but there was no sound or
+movement.  I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the
+heated room, and the avenger was gone.
+
+No interference upon our part could have saved the man from
+his fate; but as the woman poured bullet after bullet into
+Milverton's shrinking body I was about to spring out, when I
+felt Holmes's cold, strong grasp upon my wrist.  I understood
+the whole argument of that firm, restraining grip -- that it was
+no affair of ours; that justice had overtaken a villain; that we
+had our own duties and our own objects which were not to be lost
+sight of.  But hardly had the woman rushed from the room when
+Holmes, with swift, silent steps, was over at the other door.
+He turned the key in the lock.  At the same instant we heard
+voices in the house and the sound of hurrying feet.  The
+revolver shots had roused the household.  With perfect coolness
+Holmes slipped across to the safe, filled his two arms with
+bundles of letters, and poured them all into the fire.  Again
+and again he did it, until the safe was empty.  Someone turned
+the handle and beat upon the outside of the door.  Holmes looked
+swiftly round.  The letter which had been the messenger of death
+for Milverton lay, all mottled with his blood, upon the table.
+Holmes tossed it in among the blazing papers.  Then he drew the
+key from the outer door, passed through after me, and locked it
+on the outside.  "This way, Watson," said he; "we can scale the
+garden wall in this direction."
+
+I could not have believed that an alarm could have spread so
+swiftly.  Looking back, the huge house was one blaze of light.
+The front door was open, and figures were rushing down the
+drive.  The whole garden was alive with people, and one fellow
+raised a view-halloa as we emerged from the veranda and followed
+hard at our heels.  Holmes seemed to know the ground perfectly,
+and he threaded his way swiftly among a plantation of small
+trees, I close at his heels, and our foremost pursuer panting
+behind us.  It was a six-foot wall which barred our path, but he
+sprang to the top and over.  As I did the same I felt the hand
+of the man behind me grab at my ankle; but I kicked myself free
+and scrambled over a glass-strewn coping.  I fell upon my face
+among some bushes; but Holmes had me on my feet in an instant,
+and together we dashed away across the huge expanse of Hampstead
+Heath.  We had run two miles, I suppose, before Holmes at last
+halted and listened intently.  All was absolute silence behind us.
+We had shaken off our pursuers and were safe.
+
+
+We had breakfasted and were smoking our morning pipe on the
+day after the remarkable experience which I have recorded when
+Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, very solemn and impressive,
+was ushered into our modest sitting-room.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Holmes," said he; "good morning.
+May I ask if you are very busy just now?"
+
+"Not too busy to listen to you."
+
+"I thought that, perhaps, if you had nothing particular on hand,
+you might care to assist us in a most remarkable case which
+occurred only last night at Hampstead."
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes.  "What was that?"
+
+"A murder -- a most dramatic and remarkable murder.  I know how
+keen you are upon these things, and I would take it as a great
+favour if you would step down to Appledore Towers and give us
+the benefit of your advice.  It is no ordinary crime.  We have
+had our eyes upon this Mr. Milverton for some time, and, between
+ourselves, he was a bit of a villain.  He is known to have held
+papers which he used for blackmailing purposes.  These papers
+have all been burned by the murderers.  No article of value was
+taken, as it is probable that the criminals were men of good
+position, whose sole object was to prevent social exposure."
+
+"Criminals!" said Holmes.  "Plural!"
+
+"Yes, there were two of them.  They were, as nearly as possible,
+captured red-handed.  We have their foot-marks, we have their
+description; it's ten to one that we trace them.  The first
+fellow was a bit too active, but the second was caught by the
+under-gardener and only got away after a struggle.  He was a
+middle-sized, strongly-built man -- square jaw, thick neck,
+moustache, a mask over his eyes."
+
+"That's rather vague," said Sherlock Holmes.
+"Why, it might be a description of Watson!"
+
+"It's true," said the inspector, with much amusement.
+"It might be a description of Watson."
+
+"Well, I am afraid I can't help you, Lestrade," said Holmes.
+"The fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I
+considered him one of the most dangerous men in London, and that
+I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch,
+and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.
+No, it's no use arguing.  I have made up my mind.  My sympathies
+are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will
+not handle this case."
+
+
+Holmes had not said one word to me about the tragedy which we
+had witnessed, but I observed all the morning that he was in his
+most thoughtful mood, and he gave me the impression, from his
+vacant eyes and his abstracted manner, of a man who is striving
+to recall something to his memory.  We were in the middle of our
+lunch when he suddenly sprang to his feet.  "By Jove, Watson;
+I've got it!" he cried.  "Take your hat!  Come with me!"
+He hurried at his top speed down Baker Street and along Oxford
+Street, until we had almost reached Regent Circus.  Here on the
+left hand there stands a shop window filled with photographs of
+the celebrities and beauties of the day.  Holmes's eyes fixed
+themselves upon one of them, and following his gaze I saw the
+picture of a regal and stately lady in Court dress, with a high
+diamond tiara upon her noble head.  I looked at that
+delicately-curved nose, at the marked eyebrows, at the straight
+mouth, and the strong little chin beneath it.  Then I caught my
+breath as I read the time-honoured title of the great nobleman
+and statesman whose wife she had been.  My eyes met those of Holmes,
+and he put his finger to his lips as we turned away from the window.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 27  MAY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+VIII. --- The Adventure of the Six Napoleons.
+
+
+IT was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard,
+to look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to
+Sherlock Holmes, for they enabled him to keep in touch with all
+that was going on at the police head-quarters.  In return for
+the news which Lestrade would bring, Holmes was always ready to
+listen with attention to the details of any case upon which the
+detective was engaged, and was able occasionally, without any
+active interference, to give some hint or suggestion drawn from
+his own vast knowledge and experience.
+
+On this particular evening Lestrade had spoken of the weather
+and the newspapers.  Then he had fallen silent, puffing
+thoughtfully at his cigar.  Holmes looked keenly at him.
+
+"Anything remarkable on hand?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, no, Mr. Holmes, nothing very particular."
+
+"Then tell me about it."
+
+Lestrade laughed.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, there is no use denying that there IS
+something on my mind.  And yet it is such an absurd business
+that I hesitated to bother you about it.  On the other hand,
+although it is trivial, it is undoubtedly queer, and I know that
+you have a taste for all that is out of the common.  But in my
+opinion it comes more in Dr. Watson's line than ours."
+
+"Disease?" said I.
+
+"Madness, anyhow.  And a queer madness too!  You wouldn't think
+there was anyone living at this time of day who had such a
+hatred of Napoleon the First that he would break any image of
+him that he could see."
+
+Holmes sank back in his chair.
+
+"That's no business of mine," said he.
+
+"Exactly.  That's what I said.  But then, when the man commits
+burglary in order to break images which are not his own, that
+brings it away from the doctor and on to the policeman."
+
+Holmes sat up again.
+
+"Burglary!  This is more interesting.  Let me hear the details."
+
+Lestrade took out his official note-book and refreshed his
+memory from its pages.
+
+"The first case reported was four days ago," said he.  "It was
+at the shop of Morse Hudson, who has a place for the sale of
+pictures and statues in the Kennington Road.  The assistant had
+left the front shop for an instant when he heard a crash, and
+hurrying in he found a plaster bust of Napoleon, which stood
+with several other works of art upon the counter, lying shivered
+into fragments.  He rushed out into the road, but, although
+several passers-by declared that they had noticed a man run out
+of the shop, he could neither see anyone nor could he find any
+means of identifying the rascal.  It seemed to be one of those
+senseless acts of Hooliganism which occur from time to time,
+and it was reported to the constable on the beat as such.
+The plaster cast was not worth more than a few shillings,
+and the whole affair appeared to be too childish for any
+particular investigation.
+
+"The second case, however, was more serious and also more
+singular.  It occurred only last night.
+
+"In Kennington Road, and within a few hundred yards of Morse
+Hudson's shop, there lives a well-known medical practitioner,
+named Dr. Barnicot, who has one of the largest practices upon
+the south side of the Thames.  His residence and principal
+consulting-room is at Kennington Road, but he has a branch
+surgery and dispensary at Lower Brixton Road, two miles away.
+This Dr. Barnicot is an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon, and
+his house is full of books, pictures, and relics of the French
+Emperor.  Some little time ago he purchased from Morse Hudson
+two duplicate plaster casts of the famous head of Napoleon by
+the French sculptor, Devine.  One of these he placed in his
+hall in the house at Kennington Road, and the other on the
+mantelpiece of the surgery at Lower Brixton.  Well, when Dr.
+Barnicot came down this morning he was astonished to find that
+his house had been burgled during the night, but that nothing
+had been taken save the plaster head from the hall.  It had been
+carried out and had been dashed savagely against the garden
+wall, under which its splintered fragments were discovered."
+
+Holmes rubbed his hands.
+
+"This is certainly very novel," said he.
+
+"I thought it would please you.  But I have not got to the end
+yet.  Dr. Barnicot was due at his surgery at twelve o'clock,
+and you can imagine his amazement when, on arriving there,
+he found that the window had been opened in the night, and that
+the broken pieces of his second bust were strewn all over the room.
+It had been smashed to atoms where it stood.  In neither case
+were there any signs which could give us a clue as to the
+criminal or lunatic who had done the mischief.  Now, Mr. Holmes,
+you have got the facts."
+
+"They are singular, not to say grotesque," said Holmes.
+"May I ask whether the two busts smashed in Dr. Barnicot's
+rooms were the exact duplicates of the one which was destroyed
+in Morse Hudson's shop?"
+
+"They were taken from the same mould."
+
+"Such a fact must tell against the theory that the man who
+breaks them is influenced by any general hatred of Napoleon.
+Considering how many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor
+must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such a
+coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance
+to begin upon three specimens of the same bust."
+
+"Well, I thought as you do," said Lestrade.  "On the other hand,
+this Morse Hudson is the purveyor of busts in that part of
+London, and these three were the only ones which had been in his
+shop for years.  So, although, as you say, there are many
+hundreds of statues in London, it is very probable that these
+three were the only ones in that district.  Therefore, a local
+fanatic would begin with them.  What do you think, Dr. Watson?"
+
+"There are no limits to the possibilities of monomania,"
+I answered.  "There is the condition which the modern French
+psychologists have called the `idee fixe,' which may be trifling
+in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other
+way.  A man who had read deeply about Napoleon, or who had
+possibly received some hereditary family injury through the
+great war, might conceivably form such an `idee fixe' and under
+its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage."
+
+"That won't do, my dear Watson," said Holmes, shaking his head;
+"for no amount of `idee fixe' would enable your interesting
+monomaniac to find out where these busts were situated."
+
+"Well, how do YOU explain it?"
+
+"I don't attempt to do so.  I would only observe that there is a
+certain method in the gentleman's eccentric proceedings.  For
+example, in Dr. Barnicot's hall, where a sound might arouse the
+family, the bust was taken outside before being broken, whereas
+in the surgery, where there was less danger of an alarm, it was
+smashed where it stood.  The affair seems absurdly trifling, and
+yet I dare call nothing trivial when I reflect that some of my
+most classic cases have had the least promising commencement.
+You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the
+Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth
+which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.
+I can't afford, therefore, to smile at your three broken busts,
+Lestrade, and I shall be very much obliged to you if you will
+let me hear of any fresh developments of so singular a chain
+of events."
+
+
+The development for which my friend had asked came in a quicker
+and an infinitely more tragic form than he could have imagined.
+I was still dressing in my bedroom next morning when there was
+a tap at the door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand.
+He read it aloud:--
+
+"Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington. -- Lestrade."
+
+"What is it, then?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know -- may be anything.  But I suspect it is the
+sequel of the story of the statues.  In that case our friend,
+the image-breaker, has begun operations in another quarter of
+London.  There's coffee on the table, Watson, and I have a cab
+at the door."
+
+In half an hour we had reached Pitt Street, a quiet little
+backwater just beside one of the briskest currents of London
+life.  No. 131 was one of a row, all flat-chested, respectable,
+and most unromantic dwellings.  As we drove up we found the
+railings in front of the house lined by a curious crowd.
+Holmes whistled.
+
+"By George! it's attempted murder at the least.  Nothing less
+will hold the London message-boy.  There's a deed of violence
+indicated in that fellow's round shoulders and outstretched
+neck.  What's this, Watson?  The top steps swilled down and the
+other ones dry.  Footsteps enough, anyhow!  Well, well, there's
+Lestrade at the front window, and we shall soon know all about it."
+
+The official received us with a very grave face and showed us
+into a sitting-room, where an exceedingly unkempt and agitated
+elderly man, clad in a flannel dressing-gown, was pacing up and
+down.  He was introduced to us as the owner of the house --
+Mr. Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate.
+
+"It's the Napoleon bust business again," said Lestrade.
+"You seemed interested last night, Mr. Holmes, so I thought
+perhaps you would be glad to be present now that the affair
+has taken a very much graver turn."
+
+"What has it turned to, then?"
+
+"To murder.  Mr. Harker, will you tell these gentlemen exactly
+what has occurred?"
+
+The man in the dressing-gown turned upon us with a most
+melancholy face.
+
+"It's an extraordinary thing," said he, "that all my life I have
+been collecting other people's news, and now that a real piece
+of news has come my own way I am so confused and bothered that
+I can't put two words together.  If I had come in here as a
+journalist I should have interviewed myself and had two columns
+in every evening paper.  As it is I am giving away valuable copy
+by telling my story over and over to a string of different people,
+and I can make no use of it myself.  However, I've heard your name,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and if you'll only explain this queer business
+I shall be paid for my trouble in telling you the story."
+
+Holmes sat down and listened.
+
+"It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I
+bought for this very room about four months ago.  I picked it up
+cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street
+Station.  A great deal of my journalistic work is done at night,
+and I often write until the early morning.  So it was to-day.
+I was sitting in my den, which is at the back of the top of the
+house, about three o'clock, when I was convinced that I heard
+some sounds downstairs.  I listened, but they were not repeated,
+and I concluded that they came from outside.  Then suddenly,
+about five minutes later, there came a most horrible yell -- the
+most dreadful sound, Mr. Holmes, that ever I heard.  It will
+ring in my ears as long as I live.  I sat frozen with horror for
+a minute or two.  Then I seized the poker and went downstairs.
+When I entered this room I found the window wide open, and I at
+once observed that the bust was gone from the mantelpiece.
+Why any burglar should take such a thing passes my understanding,
+for it was only a plaster cast and of no real value whatever.
+
+"You can see for yourself that anyone going out through that
+open window could reach the front doorstep by taking a long
+stride.  This was clearly what the burglar had done, so I went
+round and opened the door.  Stepping out into the dark I nearly
+fell over a dead man who was lying there.  I ran back for a
+light, and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat
+and the whole place swimming in blood.  He lay on his back, his
+knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open.  I shall see him in
+my dreams.  I had just time to blow on my police-whistle, and
+then I must have fainted, for I knew nothing more until I found
+the policeman standing over me in the hall."
+
+"Well, who was the murdered man?" asked Holmes.
+
+"There's nothing to show who he was," said Lestrade.  "You shall
+see the body at the mortuary, but we have made nothing of it up
+to now.  He is a tall man, sunburned, very powerful, not more
+than thirty.  He is poorly dressed, and yet does not appear to
+be a labourer.  A horn-handled clasp knife was lying in a pool
+of blood beside him.  Whether it was the weapon which did the
+deed, or whether it belonged to the dead man, I do not know.
+There was no name on his clothing, and nothing in his pockets
+save an apple, some string, a shilling map of London, and a
+photograph.  Here it is."
+
+It was evidently taken by a snap-shot from a small camera.
+It represented an alert, sharp-featured simian man with thick
+eyebrows, and a very peculiar projection of the lower part of
+the face like the muzzle of a baboon.
+
+"And what became of the bust?" asked Holmes, after a careful
+study of this picture.
+
+"We had news of it just before you came.  It has been found
+in the front garden of an empty house in Campden House Road.
+It was broken into fragments.  I am going round now to see it.
+Will you come?"
+
+"Certainly.  I must just take one look round."  He examined the
+carpet and the window.  "The fellow had either very long legs or
+was a most active man," said he.  "With an area beneath, it was
+no mean feat to reach that window-ledge and open that window.
+Getting back was comparatively simple.  Are you coming with us
+to see the remains of your bust, Mr. Harker?"
+
+The disconsolate journalist had seated himself at a writing-table.
+
+"I must try and make something of it," said he, "though I have
+no doubt that the first editions of the evening papers are out
+already with full details.  It's like my luck!  You remember
+when the stand fell at Doncaster?  Well, I was the only
+journalist in the stand, and my journal the only one that had
+no account of it, for I was too shaken to write it.  And now
+I'll be too late with a murder done on my own doorstep."
+
+As we left the room we heard his pen travelling shrilly over
+the foolscap.
+
+The spot where the fragments of the bust had been found was only
+a few hundred yards away.  For the first time our eyes rested
+upon this presentment of the great Emperor, which seemed to
+raise such frantic and destructive hatred in the mind of the
+unknown.  It lay scattered in splintered shards upon the
+grass.  Holmes picked up several of them and examined them
+carefully.  I was convinced from his intent face and his
+purposeful manner that at last he was upon a clue.
+
+"Well?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We have a long way to go yet," said he.  "And yet -- and yet --
+well, we have some suggestive facts to act upon.  The possession
+of this trifling bust was worth more in the eyes of this
+strange criminal than a human life.  That is one point.
+Then there is the singular fact that he did not break it in the
+house, or immediately outside the house, if to break it was his
+sole object."
+
+"He was rattled and bustled by meeting this other fellow.
+He hardly knew what he was doing."
+
+"Well, that's likely enough.  But I wish to call your attention
+very particularly to the position of this house in the garden
+of which the bust was destroyed."
+
+Lestrade looked about him.
+
+"It was an empty house, and so he knew that he would not be
+disturbed in the garden."
+
+"Yes, but there is another empty house farther up the street
+which he must have passed before he came to this one.  Why did
+he not break it there, since it is evident that every yard that
+he carried it increased the risk of someone meeting him?"
+
+"I give it up," said Lestrade.
+
+Holmes pointed to the street lamp above our heads.
+
+"He could see what he was doing here and he could not there.
+That was his reason."
+
+"By Jove! that's true," said the detective.  "Now that I come to
+think of it, Dr. Barnicot's bust was broken not far from his red
+lamp.  Well, Mr. Holmes, what are we to do with that fact?"
+
+"To remember it -- to docket it.  We may come on something
+later which will bear upon it.  What steps do you propose
+to take now, Lestrade?"
+
+"The most practical way of getting at it, in my opinion, is to
+identify the dead man.  There should be no difficulty about
+that.  When we have found who he is and who his associates are,
+we should have a good start in learning what he was doing in
+Pitt Street last night, and who it was who met him and killed
+him on the doorstep of Mr. Horace Harker.  Don't you think so?"
+
+"No doubt; and yet it is not quite the way in which I should
+approach the case."
+
+"What would you do, then?"
+
+"Oh, you must not let me influence you in any way!  I suggest
+that you go on your line and I on mine.  We can compare notes
+afterwards, and each will supplement the other."
+
+"Very good," said Lestrade.
+
+"If you are going back to Pitt Street you might see Mr. Horace
+Harker.  Tell him from me that I have quite made up my mind,
+and that it is certain that a dangerous homicidal lunatic with
+Napoleonic delusions was in his house last night.  It will be
+useful for his article."
+
+Lestrade stared.
+
+"You don't seriously believe that?"
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"Don't I?  Well, perhaps I don't.  But I am sure that it will
+interest Mr. Horace Harker and the subscribers of the Central
+Press Syndicate.  Now, Watson, I think that we shall find that
+we have a long and rather complex day's work before us.
+I should be glad, Lestrade, if you could make it convenient to
+meet us at Baker Street at six o'clock this evening.  Until then
+I should like to keep this photograph found in the dead man's
+pocket.  It is possible that I may have to ask your company and
+assistance upon a small expedition which will have be undertaken
+to-night, if my chain of reasoning should prove to be correct.
+Until then, good-bye and good luck!"
+
+Sherlock Holmes and I walked together to the High Street, where
+he stopped at the shop of Harding Brothers, whence the bust had
+been purchased.  A young assistant informed us that Mr. Harding
+would be absent until after noon, and that he was himself a
+newcomer who could give us no information.  Holmes's face
+showed his disappointment and annoyance.
+
+"Well, well, we can't expect to have it all our own way,
+Watson," he said, at last.  "We must come back in the afternoon
+if Mr. Harding will not be here until then.  I am, as you have
+no doubt surmised, endeavouring to trace these busts to their
+source, in order to find if there is not something peculiar
+which may account for their remarkable fate.  Let us make for
+Mr. Morse Hudson, of the Kennington Road, and see if he can
+throw any light upon the problem."
+
+A drive of an hour brought us to the picture-dealer's
+establishment.  He was a small, stout man with a red face
+and a peppery manner.
+
+"Yes, sir.  On my very counter, sir," said he.  "What we pay
+rates and taxes for I don't know, when any ruffian can come in
+and break one's goods.  Yes, sir, it was I who sold Dr. Barnicot
+his two statues.  Disgraceful, sir!  A Nihilist plot, that's
+what I make it.  No one but an Anarchist would go about breaking
+statues.  Red republicans, that's what I call 'em.  Who did I
+get the statues from?  I don't see what that has to do with it.
+Well, if you really want to know, I got them from Gelder and Co.,
+in Church Street, Stepney.  They are a well-known house in the
+trade, and have been this twenty years.  How many had I?
+Three -- two and one are three -- two of Dr. Barnicot's and one
+smashed in broad daylight on my own counter.  Do I know that
+photograph?  No, I don't.  Yes, I do, though.  Why, it's Beppo.
+He was a kind of Italian piece-work man, who made himself useful
+in the shop.  He could carve a bit and gild and frame, and do
+odd jobs.  The fellow left me last week, and I've heard nothing
+of him since.  No, I don't know where he came from nor where he
+went to.  I have nothing against him while he was here.  He was
+gone two days before the bust was smashed."
+
+"Well, that's all we could reasonably expect to get from Morse
+Hudson," said Holmes, as we emerged from the shop.  "We have this
+Beppo as a common factor, both in Kennington and in Kensington,
+so that is worth a ten-mile drive.  Now, Watson, let us make
+for Gelder and Co., of Stepney, the source and origin of busts.
+I shall be surprised if we don't get some help down there."
+
+In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable
+London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London,
+commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came
+to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the
+tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe.
+Here, in a broad thoroughfare, once the abode of wealthy City
+merchants, we found the sculpture works for which we searched.
+Outside was a considerable yard full of monumental masonry.
+Inside was a large room in which fifty workers were carving or
+moulding.  The manager, a big blond German, received us civilly,
+and gave a clear answer to all Holmes's questions.  A reference
+to his books showed that hundreds of casts had been taken from
+a marble copy of Devine's head of Napoleon, but that the three
+which had been sent to Morse Hudson a year or so before had been
+half of a batch of six, the other three being sent to Harding
+Brothers, of Kensington.  There was no reason why those six
+should be different to any of the other casts.  He could
+suggest no possible cause why anyone should wish to destroy
+them -- in fact, he laughed at the idea.  Their wholesale price
+was six shillings, but the retailer would get twelve or more.
+The cast was taken in two moulds from each side of the face, and
+then these two profiles of plaster of Paris were joined together
+to make the complete bust.  The work was usually done by
+Italians in the room we were in.  When finished the busts were
+put on a table in the passage to dry, and afterwards stored.
+That was all he could tell us.
+
+But the production of the photograph had a remarkable effect
+upon the manager.  His face flushed with anger, and his brows
+knotted over his blue Teutonic eyes.
+
+"Ah, the rascal!" he cried.  "Yes, indeed, I know him very well.
+This has always been a respectable establishment, and the only
+time that we have ever had the police in it was over this very
+fellow.  It was more than a year ago now.  He knifed another
+Italian in the street, and then he came to the works with the
+police on his heels, and he was taken here.  Beppo was his
+name -- his second name I never knew.  Serve me right for
+engaging a man with such a face.  But he was a good workman,
+one of the best."
+
+"What did he get?"
+
+"The man lived and he got off with a year.  I have no doubt he is
+out now; but he has not dared to show his nose here.  We have a
+cousin of his here, and I dare say he could tell you where he is."
+
+"No, no," cried Holmes, "not a word to the cousin -- not a word,
+I beg you.  The matter is very important, and the farther I go
+with it the more important it seems to grow.  When you referred
+in your ledger to the sale of those casts I observed that the
+date was June 3rd of last year.  Could you give me the date when
+Beppo was arrested?"
+
+"I could tell you roughly by the pay-list," the manager
+answered.  "Yes," he continued, after some turning over of
+pages, "he was paid last on May 20th."
+
+"Thank you," said Holmes. "I don't think that I need intrude
+upon your time and patience any more."  With a last word of
+caution that he should say nothing as to our researches we
+turned our faces westward once more.
+
+The afternoon was far advanced before we were able to snatch
+a hasty luncheon at a restaurant.  A news-bill at the entrance
+announced "Kensington Outrage.  Murder by a Madman," and the
+contents of the paper showed that Mr. Horace Harker had got his
+account into print after all.  Two columns were occupied with
+a highly sensational and flowery rendering of the whole incident.
+Holmes propped it against the cruet-stand and read it while he ate.
+Once or twice he chuckled.
+
+"This is all right, Watson," said he.  "Listen to this:
+`It is satisfactory to know that there can be no difference
+of opinion upon this case, since Mr. Lestrade, one of the most
+experienced members of the official force, and Mr. Sherlock
+Holmes, the well-known consulting expert, have each come to the
+conclusion that the grotesque series of incidents, which have
+ended in so tragic a fashion, arise from lunacy rather than from
+deliberate crime.  No explanation save mental aberration can
+cover the facts.'  The Press, Watson, is a most valuable
+institution if you only know how to use it.  And now, if you
+have quite finished, we will hark back to Kensington and see
+what the manager of Harding Brothers has to say to the matter."
+
+The founder of that great emporium proved to be a brisk,
+crisp little person, very dapper and quick, with a clear head
+and a ready tongue.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have already read the account in the evening
+papers.  Mr. Horace Harker is a customer of ours.  We supplied
+him with the bust some months ago.  We ordered three busts of
+that sort from Gelder and Co., of Stepney.  They are all sold now.
+To whom?  Oh, I dare say by consulting our sales book we could
+very easily tell you.  Yes, we have the entries here.  One to
+Mr. Harker, you see, and one to Mr. Josiah Brown, of Laburnum
+Lodge, Laburnum Vale, Chiswick, and one to Mr. Sandeford, of
+Lower Grove Road, Reading.  No, I have never seen this face
+which you show me in the photograph.  You would hardly forget
+it, would you, sir, for I've seldom seen an uglier.  Have we any
+Italians on the staff?  Yes, sir, we have several among our
+workpeople and cleaners.  I dare say they might get a peep at
+that sales book if they wanted to.  There is no particular
+reason for keeping a watch upon that book.  Well, well, it's a
+very strange business, and I hope that you'll let me know if
+anything comes of your inquiries."
+
+Holmes had taken several notes during Mr. Harding's evidence,
+and I could see that he was thoroughly satisfied by the turn
+which affairs were taking.  He made no remark, however, save
+that, unless we hurried, we should be late for our appointment
+with Lestrade.  Sure enough, when we reached Baker Street the
+detective was already there, and we found him pacing up and down
+in a fever of impatience.  His look of importance showed that
+his day's work had not been in vain.
+
+"Well?" he asked.  "What luck, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"We have had a very busy day, and not entirely a wasted one,"
+my friend explained.  "We have seen both the retailers and also
+the wholesale manufacturers.  I can trace each of the busts now
+from the beginning."
+
+"The busts!" cried Lestrade.  "Well, well, you have your own
+methods, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and it is not for me to say a
+word against them, but I think I have done a better day's work
+than you.  I have identified the dead man."
+
+"You don't say so?"
+
+"And found a cause for the crime."
+
+"Splendid!"
+
+"We have an inspector who makes a specialty of Saffron Hill and
+the Italian quarter.  Well, this dead man had some Catholic
+emblem round his neck, and that, along with his colour, made me
+think he was from the South.  Inspector Hill knew him the moment
+he caught sight of him.  His name is Pietro Venucci, from Naples,
+and he is one of the greatest cut-throats in London.
+He is connected with the Mafia, which, as you know, is a secret
+political society, enforcing its decrees by murder.  Now you
+see how the affair begins to clear up.  The other fellow is
+probably an Italian also, and a member of the Mafia.  He has
+broken the rules in some fashion.  Pietro is set upon his track.
+Probably the photograph we found in his pocket is the man
+himself, so that he may not knife the wrong person.  He dogs
+the fellow, he sees him enter a house, he waits outside for him,
+and in the scuffle he receives his own death-wound.  How is that,
+Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+Holmes clapped his hands approvingly.
+
+"Excellent, Lestrade, excellent!" he cried.  "But I didn't quite
+follow your explanation of the destruction of the busts."
+
+"The busts!  You never can get those busts out of your head.
+After all, that is nothing; petty larceny, six months at the most.
+It is the murder that we are really investigating, and I tell
+you that I am gathering all the threads into my hands."
+
+"And the next stage?"
+
+"Is a very simple one.  I shall go down with Hill to the Italian
+quarter, find the man whose photograph we have got, and arrest
+him on the charge of murder.  Will you come with us?"
+
+"I think not.  I fancy we can attain our end in a simpler way.
+I can't say for certain, because it all depends -- well, it all
+depends upon a factor which is completely outside our control.
+But I have great hopes -- in fact, the betting is exactly two
+to one -- that if you will come with us to-night I shall be able
+to help you to lay him by the heels."
+
+"In the Italian quarter?"
+
+"No; I fancy Chiswick is an address which is more likely to find
+him.  If you will come with me to Chiswick to-night, Lestrade,
+I'll promise to go to the Italian quarter with you to-morrow,
+and no harm will be done by the delay.  And now I think that a
+few hours' sleep would do us all good, for I do not propose to
+leave before eleven o'clock, and it is unlikely that we shall
+be back before morning.  You'll dine with us, Lestrade, and then
+you are welcome to the sofa until it is time for us to start.
+In the meantime, Watson, I should be glad if you would ring for
+an express messenger, for I have a letter to send, and it is
+important that it should go at once."
+
+Holmes spent the evening in rummaging among the files of the
+old daily papers with which one of our lumber-rooms was packed.
+When at last he descended it was with triumph in his eyes,
+but he said nothing to either of us as to the result of his
+researches.  For my own part, I had followed step by step the
+methods by which he had traced the various windings of this
+complex case, and, though I could not yet perceive the goal
+which we would reach, I understood clearly that Holmes expected
+this grotesque criminal to make an attempt upon the two
+remaining busts, one of which, I remembered, was at Chiswick.
+No doubt the object of our journey was to catch him in the very
+act, and I could not but admire the cunning with which my friend
+had inserted a wrong clue in the evening paper, so as to give
+the fellow the idea that he could continue his scheme with
+impunity.  I was not surprised when Holmes suggested that
+I should take my revolver with me.  He had himself picked up
+the loaded hunting-crop which was his favourite weapon.
+
+A four-wheeler was at the door at eleven, and in it we drove to
+a spot at the other side of Hammersmith Bridge.  Here the cabman
+was directed to wait.  A short walk brought us to a secluded
+road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own
+grounds.  In the light of a street lamp we read "Laburnum Villa"
+upon the gate-post of one of them.  The occupants had evidently
+retired to rest, for all was dark save for a fanlight over the
+hall door, which shed a single blurred circle on to the garden
+path.  The wooden fence which separated the grounds from the
+road threw a dense black shadow upon the inner side, and here
+it was that we crouched.
+
+"I fear that you'll have a long wait," Holmes whispered.
+"We may thank our stars that it is not raining.  I don't think we
+can even venture to smoke to pass the time.  However, it's a two
+to one chance that we get something to pay us for our trouble."
+
+It proved, however, that our vigil was not to be so long as
+Holmes had led us to fear, and it ended in a very sudden and
+singular fashion.  In an instant, without the least sound to
+warn us of his coming, the garden gate swung open, and a lithe,
+dark figure, as swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden
+path.  We saw it whisk past the light thrown from over the door
+and disappear against the black shadow of the house.  There was
+a long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very
+gentle creaking sound came to our ears.  The window was being
+opened.  The noise ceased, and again there was a long silence.
+The fellow was making his way into the house.  We saw the sudden
+flash of a dark lantern inside the room.  What he sought was
+evidently not there, for again we saw the flash through another
+blind, and then through another.
+
+"Let us get to the open window.  We will nab him as he climbs out,"
+Lestrade whispered.
+
+But before we could move the man had emerged again.  As he came
+out into the glimmering patch of light we saw that he carried
+something white under his arm.  He looked stealthily all round
+him.  The silence of the deserted street reassured him.  Turning
+his back upon us he laid down his burden, and the next instant
+there was the sound of a sharp tap, followed by a clatter and
+rattle.  The man was so intent upon what he was doing that he
+never heard our steps as we stole across the grass plot.  With
+the bound of a tiger Holmes was on his back, and an instant
+later Lestrade and I had him by either wrist and the handcuffs
+had been fastened.  As we turned him over I saw a hideous,
+sallow face, with writhing, furious features, glaring up at us,
+and I knew that it was indeed the man of the photograph whom we
+had secured.
+
+But it was not our prisoner to whom Holmes was giving his
+attention.  Squatted on the doorstep, he was engaged in most
+carefully examining that which the man had brought from the
+house.  It was a bust of Napoleon like the one which we had
+seen that morning, and it had been broken into similar
+fragments.  Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to the
+light, but in no way did it differ from any other shattered
+piece of plaster.  He had just completed his examination when
+the hall lights flew up, the door opened, and the owner of the
+house, a jovial, rotund figure in shirt and trousers, presented
+himself.
+
+"Mr. Josiah Brown, I suppose?" said Holmes.
+
+"Yes, sir; and you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes?  I had
+the note which you sent by the express messenger, and I did
+exactly what you told me.  We locked every door on the inside
+and awaited developments.  Well, I'm very glad to see that you
+have got the rascal.  I hope, gentlemen, that you will come in
+and have some refreshment."
+
+However, Lestrade was anxious to get his man into safe quarters,
+so within a few minutes our cab had been summoned and we were
+all four upon our way to London.  Not a word would our captive
+say; but he glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and
+once, when my hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at it
+like a hungry wolf.  We stayed long enough at the police-station
+to learn that a search of his clothing revealed nothing save a
+few shillings and a long sheath knife, the handle of which bore
+copious traces of recent blood.
+
+"That's all right," said Lestrade, as we parted.  "Hill knows
+all these gentry, and he will give a name to him.  You'll find
+that my theory of the Mafia will work out all right.  But I'm
+sure I am exceedingly obliged to you, Mr. Holmes, for the
+workmanlike way in which you laid hands upon him.  I don't quite
+understand it all yet."
+
+"I fear it is rather too late an hour for explanations," said
+Holmes.  "Besides, there are one or two details which are not
+finished off, and it is one of those cases which are worth
+working out to the very end.  If you will come round once more
+to my rooms at six o'clock to-morrow I think I shall be able to
+show you that even now you have not grasped the entire meaning
+of this business, which presents some features which make it
+absolutely original in the history of crime.  If ever I permit
+you to chronicle any more of my little problems, Watson,
+I foresee that you will enliven your pages by an account of
+the singular adventure of the Napoleonic busts."
+
+
+When we met again next evening Lestrade was furnished with much
+information concerning our prisoner.  His name, it appeared, was
+Beppo, second name unknown.  He was a well-known ne'er-do-well
+among the Italian colony.  He had once been a skilful sculptor
+and had earned an honest living, but he had taken to evil
+courses and had twice already been in gaol -- once for a petty
+theft and once, as we had already heard, for stabbing a
+fellow-countryman.  He could talk English perfectly well.
+His reasons for destroying the busts were still unknown, and he
+refused to answer any questions upon the subject; but the police
+had discovered that these same busts might very well have been
+made by his own hands, since he was engaged in this class of
+work at the establishment of Gelder and Co.  To all this
+information, much of which we already knew, Holmes listened with
+polite attention; but I, who knew him so well, could clearly see
+that his thoughts were elsewhere, and I detected a mixture of
+mingled uneasiness and expectation beneath that mask which he
+was wont to assume.  At last he started in his chair and his
+eyes brightened.  There had been a ring at the bell.  A minute
+later we heard steps upon the stairs, and an elderly, red-faced
+man with grizzled side-whiskers was ushered in.  In his right
+hand he carried an old-fashioned carpet-bag, which he placed
+upon the table.
+
+"Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?"
+
+My friend bowed and smiled.  "Mr. Sandeford, of Reading, I suppose?"
+said he.
+
+"Yes, sir, I fear that I am a little late; but the trains were
+awkward.  You wrote to me about a bust that is in my possession."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"I have your letter here.  You said, `I desire to possess a copy
+of Devine's Napoleon, and am prepared to pay you ten pounds for
+the one which is in your possession.'  Is that right?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I was very much surprised at your letter, for I could not
+imagine how you knew that I owned such a thing."
+
+"Of course you must have been surprised, but the explanation is
+very simple.  Mr. Harding, of Harding Brothers, said that they
+had sold you their last copy, and he gave me your address."
+
+"Oh, that was it, was it?  Did he tell you what I paid for it?"
+
+"No, he did not."
+
+"Well, I am an honest man, though not a very rich one.
+I only gave fifteen shillings for the bust, and I think
+you ought to know that before I take ten pounds from you."
+
+"I am sure the scruple does you honour, Mr. Sandeford.
+But I have named that price, so I intend to stick to it."
+
+"Well, it is very handsome of you, Mr. Holmes.  I brought the
+bust up with me, as you asked me to do.  Here it is!"  He opened
+his bag, and at last we saw placed upon our table a complete
+specimen of that bust which we had already seen more than once
+in fragments.
+
+Holmes took a paper from his pocket and laid a ten-pound note
+upon the table.
+
+"You will kindly sign that paper, Mr. Sandeford, in the presence
+of these witnesses.  It is simply to say that you transfer every
+possible right that you ever had in the bust to me.  I am a
+methodical man, you see, and you never know what turn events
+might take afterwards.  Thank you, Mr. Sandeford; here is your
+money, and I wish you a very good evening."
+
+When our visitor had disappeared Sherlock Holmes's movements
+were such as to rivet our attention.  He began by taking a clean
+white cloth from a drawer and laying it over the table.  Then he
+placed his newly-acquired bust in the centre of the cloth.
+Finally, he picked up his hunting-crop and struck Napoleon a
+sharp blow on the top of the head.  The figure broke into
+fragments, and Holmes bent eagerly over the shattered remains.
+Next instant, with a loud shout of triumph, he held up one
+splinter, in which a round, dark object was fixed like a plum
+in a pudding.
+
+"Gentlemen," he cried, "let me introduce you to the famous
+black pearl of the Borgias."
+
+Lestrade and I sat silent for a moment, and then, with a
+spontaneous impulse, we both broke out clapping as at the
+well-wrought crisis of a play.  A flush of colour sprang to
+Holmes's pale cheeks, and he bowed to us like the master
+dramatist who receives the homage of his audience.  It was at
+such moments that for an instant he ceased to be a reasoning
+machine, and betrayed his human love for admiration and
+applause.  The same singularly proud and reserved nature which
+turned away with disdain from popular notoriety was capable
+of being moved to its depths by spontaneous wonder and praise
+from a friend.
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," said he, "it is the most famous pearl
+now existing in the world, and it has been my good fortune,
+by a connected chain of inductive reasoning, to trace it from
+the Prince of Colonna's bedroom at the Dacre Hotel, where it was
+lost, to the interior of this, the last of the six busts of
+Napoleon which were manufactured by Gelder and Co., of Stepney.
+You will remember, Lestrade, the sensation caused by the
+disappearance of this valuable jewel, and the vain efforts of the
+London police to recover it.  I was myself consulted upon the
+case; but I was unable to throw any light upon it.  Suspicion
+fell upon the maid of the Princess, who was an Italian, and it
+was proved that she had a brother in London, but we failed to
+trace any connection between them.  The maid's name was Lucretia
+Venucci, and there is no doubt in my mind that this Pietro who
+was murdered two nights ago was the brother.  I have been
+looking up the dates in the old files of the paper, and I find
+that the disappearance of the pearl was exactly two days before
+the arrest of Beppo for some crime of violence, an event which
+took place in the factory of Gelder and Co., at the very moment
+when these busts were being made.  Now you clearly see the
+sequence of events, though you see them, of course, in the
+inverse order to the way in which they presented themselves to
+me.  Beppo had the pearl in his possession.  He may have stolen
+it from Pietro, he may have been Pietro's confederate, he may
+have been the go-between of Pietro and his sister.  It is of no
+consequence to us which is the correct solution.
+
+"The main fact is that he HAD the pearl, and at that moment,
+when it was on his person, he was pursued by the police.
+He made for the factory in which he worked, and he knew that
+he had only a few minutes in which to conceal this enormously
+valuable prize, which would otherwise be found on him when he
+was searched.  Six plaster casts of Napoleon were drying in
+the passage.  One of them was still soft.  In an instant Beppo,
+a skilful workman, made a small hole in the wet plaster, dropped
+in the pearl, and with a few touches covered over the aperture
+once more.  It was an admirable hiding-place.  No one could
+possibly find it.  But Beppo was condemned to a year's
+imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered
+over London.  He could not tell which contained his treasure.
+Only by breaking them could he see.  Even shaking would tell him
+nothing, for as the plaster was wet it was probable that the
+pearl would adhere to it -- as, in fact, it has done.  Beppo did
+not despair, and he conducted his search with considerable
+ingenuity and perseverance.  Through a cousin who works with
+Gelder he found out the retail firms who had bought the busts.
+He managed to find employment with Morse Hudson, and in that
+way tracked down three of them.  The pearl was not there.
+Then, with the help of some Italian EMPLOYE, he succeeded in
+finding out where the other three busts had gone.  The first was
+at Harker's.  There he was dogged by his confederate, who held
+Beppo responsible for the loss of the pearl, and he stabbed him
+in the scuffle which followed."
+
+"If he was his confederate why should he carry his photograph?"
+I asked.
+
+"As a means of tracing him if he wished to inquire about him
+from any third person.  That was the obvious reason.  Well,
+after the murder I calculated that Beppo would probably hurry
+rather than delay his movements.  He would fear that the police
+would read his secret, and so he hastened on before they should
+get ahead of him.  Of course, I could not say that he had not
+found the pearl in Harker's bust.  I had not even concluded for
+certain that it was the pearl; but it was evident to me that he
+was looking for something, since he carried the bust past the
+other houses in order to break it in the garden which had a lamp
+overlooking it.  Since Harker's bust was one in three the
+chances were exactly as I told you, two to one against the pearl
+being inside it.  There remained two busts, and it was obvious
+that he would go for the London one first.  I warned the inmates
+of the house, so as to avoid a second tragedy, and we went down
+with the happiest results.  By that time, of course, I knew
+for certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we were after.
+The name of the murdered man linked the one event with the other.
+There only remained a single bust -- the Reading one -- and the
+pearl must be there.  I bought it in your presence from the
+owner -- and there it lies."
+
+We sat in silence for a moment.
+
+"Well," said Lestrade, "I've seen you handle a good many cases,
+Mr. Holmes, but I don't know that I ever knew a more workmanlike
+one than that.  We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard.
+No, sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow
+there's not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest
+constable, who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand."
+
+"Thank you!" said Holmes.  "Thank you!" and as he turned away
+it seemed to me that he was more nearly moved by the softer
+human emotions than I had ever seen him.  A moment later he was
+the cold and practical thinker once more.  "Put the pearl in the
+safe, Watson," said he, "and get out the papers of the
+Conk-Singleton forgery case.  Good-bye, Lestrade.  If any little
+problem comes your way I shall be happy, if I can, to give you
+a hint or two as to its solution."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                       THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                       Vol. 27  JUNE, 1904
+                 THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                      By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+IX. -- The Adventure of the Three Students.
+
+
+IT was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which
+I need not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend
+some weeks in one of our great University towns, and it was
+during this time that the small but instructive adventure which
+I am about to relate befell us.  It will be obvious that any
+details which would help the reader to exactly identify the
+college or the criminal would be injudicious and offensive.
+So painful a scandal may well be allowed to die out.  With due
+discretion the incident itself may, however, be described, since
+it serves to illustrate some of those qualities for which my
+friend was remarkable.  I will endeavour in my statement to avoid
+such terms as would serve to limit the events to any particular
+place, or give a clue as to the people concerned.
+
+We were residing at the time in furnished lodgings close to a
+library where Sherlock Holmes was pursuing some laborious
+researches in early English charters -- researches which led to
+results so striking that they may be the subject of one of my
+future narratives.  Here it was that one evening we received a
+visit from an acquaintance, Mr. Hilton Soames, tutor and lecturer
+at the College of St. Luke's.  Mr. Soames was a tall, spare man,
+of a nervous and excitable temperament.  I had always known him
+to be restless in his manner, but on this particular occasion he
+was in such a state of uncontrollable agitation that it was clear
+something very unusual had occurred.
+
+"I trust, Mr. Holmes, that you can spare me a few hours of your
+valuable time.  We have had a very painful incident at St. Luke's,
+and really, but for the happy chance of your being in the town,
+I should have been at a loss what to do."
+
+"I am very busy just now, and I desire no distractions,"
+my friend answered.  "I should much prefer that you called
+in the aid of the police."
+
+"No, no, my dear sir; such a course is utterly impossible.
+When once the law is evoked it cannot be stayed again, and this
+is just one of those cases where, for the credit of the college,
+it is most essential to avoid scandal.  Your discretion is as
+well known as your powers, and you are the one man in the world
+who can help me.  I beg you, Mr. Holmes, to do what you can."
+
+My friend's temper had not improved since he had been deprived
+of the congenial surroundings of Baker Street.  Without his
+scrap-books, his chemicals, and his homely untidiness, he was
+an uncomfortable man.  He shrugged his shoulders in ungracious
+acquiescence, while our visitor in hurried words and with much
+excitable gesticulation poured forth his story.
+
+"I must explain to you, Mr. Holmes, that to-morrow is the first
+day of the examination for the Fortescue Scholarship.  I am one
+of the examiners.  My subject is Greek, and the first of the
+papers consists of a large passage of Greek translation which
+the candidate has not seen.  This passage is printed on the
+examination paper, and it would naturally be an immense advantage
+if the candidate could prepare it in advance.  For this reason
+great care is taken to keep the paper secret.
+
+"To-day about three o'clock the proofs of this paper arrived
+from the printers.  The exercise consists of half a chapter of
+Thucydides.  I had to read it over carefully, as the text must
+be absolutely correct.  At four-thirty my task was not yet
+completed.  I had, however, promised to take tea in a friend's
+rooms, so I left the proof upon my desk.  I was absent rather
+more than an hour.
+
+"You are aware, Mr. Holmes, that our college doors are double
+-- a green baize one within and a heavy oak one without.
+As I approached my outer door I was amazed to see a key in it.
+For an instant I imagined that I had left my own there, but on
+feeling in my pocket I found that it was all right.  The only
+duplicate which existed, so far as I knew, was that which belonged
+to my servant, Bannister, a man who has looked after my room
+for ten years, and whose honesty is absolutely above suspicion.
+I found that the key was indeed his, that he had entered my room
+to know if I wanted tea, and that he had very carelessly left
+the key in the door when he came out.  His visit to my room
+must have been within a very few minutes of my leaving it.
+His forgetfulness about the key would have mattered little
+upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has produced
+the most deplorable consequences.
+
+"The moment I looked at my table I was aware that someone had
+rummaged among my papers.  The proof was in three long slips.
+I had left them all together.  Now, I found that one of them was
+lying on the floor, one was on the side table near the window,
+and the third was where I had left it."
+
+Holmes stirred for the first time.
+
+"The first page on the floor, the second in the window,
+the third where you left it," said he.
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes.  You amaze me.  How could you possibly
+know that?"
+
+"Pray continue your very interesting statement."
+
+"For an instant I imagined that Bannister had taken the
+unpardonable liberty of examining my papers.  He denied it,
+however, with the utmost earnestness, and I am convinced that
+he was speaking the truth.  The alternative was that someone
+passing had observed the key in the door, had known that I was
+out, and had entered to look at the papers.  A large sum of money
+is at stake, for the scholarship is a very valuable one, and an
+unscrupulous man might very well run a risk in order to gain an
+advantage over his fellows.
+
+"Bannister was very much upset by the incident.  He had nearly
+fainted when we found that the papers had undoubtedly been
+tampered with.  I gave him a little brandy and left him collapsed
+in a chair while I made a most careful examination of the room.
+I soon saw that the intruder had left other traces of his
+presence besides the rumpled papers.  On the table in the window
+were several shreds from a pencil which had been sharpened.
+A broken tip of lead was lying there also.  Evidently the rascal
+had copied the paper in a great hurry, had broken his pencil,
+and had been compelled to put a fresh point to it."
+
+"Excellent!" said Holmes, who was recovering his good-humour
+as his attention became more engrossed by the case.
+"Fortune has been your friend."
+
+"This was not all.  I have a new writing-table with a fine
+surface of red leather.  I am prepared to swear, and so is
+Bannister, that it was smooth and unstained.  Now I found a
+clean cut in it about three inches long -- not a mere scratch,
+but a positive cut.  Not only this, but on the table I found
+a small ball of black dough, or clay, with specks of something
+which looks like sawdust in it.  I am convinced that these marks
+were left by the man who rifled the papers.  There were no footmarks
+and no other evidence as to his identity.  I was at my wits'
+ends, when suddenly the happy thought occurred to me that you
+were in the town, and I came straight round to put the matter
+into your hands.  Do help me, Mr. Holmes!  You see my dilemma.
+Either I must find the man or else the examination must be
+postponed until fresh papers are prepared, and since this cannot
+be done without explanation there will ensue a hideous scandal,
+which will throw a cloud not only on the college, but on the
+University.  Above all things I desire to settle the matter
+quietly and discreetly."
+
+"I shall be happy to look into it and to give you such advice
+as I can," said Holmes, rising and putting on his overcoat.
+"The case is not entirely devoid of interest.  Had anyone visited
+you in your room after the papers came to you?"
+
+"Yes; young Daulat Ras, an Indian student who lives on the same
+stair, came in to ask me some particulars about the examination."
+
+"For which he was entered?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the papers were on your table?"
+
+"To the best of my belief they were rolled up."
+
+"But might be recognised as proofs?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+"No one else in your room?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did anyone know that these proofs would be there?"
+
+"No one save the printer."
+
+"Did this man Bannister know?"
+
+"No, certainly not.  No one knew."
+
+"Where is Bannister now?"
+
+"He was very ill, poor fellow.  I left him collapsed
+in the chair.  I was in such a hurry to come to you."
+
+"You left your door open?"
+
+"I locked up the papers first."
+
+"Then it amounts to this, Mr. Soames, that unless the Indian
+student recognised the roll as being proofs, the man who tampered
+with them came upon them accidentally without knowing that they
+were there."
+
+"So it seems to me."
+
+Holmes gave an enigmatic smile.
+
+"Well," said he, "let us go round.  Not one of your cases,
+Watson -- mental, not physical.  All right; come if you want to.
+Now, Mr. Soames -- at your disposal!"
+
+
+The sitting-room of our client opened by a long, low, latticed
+window on to the ancient lichen-tinted court of the old college.
+A Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase.  On the
+ground floor was the tutor's room.  Above were three students,
+one on each story.  It was already twilight when we reached the
+scene of our problem.  Holmes halted and looked earnestly at the
+window.  Then he approached it, and, standing on tiptoe with his
+neck craned, he looked into the room.
+
+"He must have entered through the door.  There is no opening
+except the one pane," said our learned guide.
+
+"Dear me!" said Holmes, and he smiled in a singular way as he
+glanced at our companion.  "Well, if there is nothing to be
+learned here we had best go inside."
+
+The lecturer unlocked the outer door and ushered us into his
+room.  We stood at the entrance while Holmes made an examination
+of the carpet.
+
+"I am afraid there are no signs here," said he.  "One could
+hardly hope for any upon so dry a day.  Your servant seems to
+have quite recovered.  You left him in a chair, you say; which
+chair?"
+
+"By the window there."
+
+"I see.  Near this little table.  You can come in now.  I have
+finished with the carpet.  Let us take the little table first.
+Of course, what has happened is very clear.  The man entered
+and took the papers, sheet by sheet, from the central table.
+He carried them over to the window table, because from there he
+could see if you came across the courtyard, and so could effect
+an escape."
+
+"As a matter of fact he could not," said Soames, "for I entered
+by the side door."
+
+"Ah, that's good!  Well, anyhow, that was in his mind.  Let me
+see the three strips.  No finger impressions -- no!  Well, he
+carried over this one first and he copied it.  How long would it
+take him to do that, using every possible contraction?  A quarter
+of an hour, not less.  Then he tossed it down and seized the
+next.  He was in the midst of that when your return caused him
+to make a very hurried retreat -- VERY hurried, since he had not
+time to replace the papers which would tell you that he had been
+there.  You were not aware of any hurrying feet on the stair as
+you entered the outer door?"
+
+"No, I can't say I was."
+
+"Well, he wrote so furiously that he broke his pencil, and had,
+as you observe, to sharpen it again.  This is of interest,
+Watson.  The pencil was not an ordinary one.  It was above the
+usual size, with a soft lead; the outer colour was dark blue,
+the maker's name was printed in silver lettering, and the piece
+remaining is only about an inch and a half long.  Look for such a
+pencil, Mr. Soames, and you have got your man.  When I add that he
+possesses a large and very blunt knife, you have an additional aid."
+
+Mr. Soames was somewhat overwhelmed by this flood of information.
+"I can follow the other points," said he, "but really, in this
+matter of the length ----"
+
+Holmes held out a small chip with the letters NN and a space of
+clear wood after them.
+
+"You see?"
+
+"No, I fear that even now ----"
+
+"Watson, I have always done you an injustice.  There are others.
+What could this NN be?  It is at the end of a word.
+You are aware that Johann Faber is the most common maker's name.
+Is it not clear that there is just as much of the pencil left
+as usually follows the Johann?"  He held the small table sideways
+to the electric light.  "I was hoping that if the paper on which
+he wrote was thin some trace of it might come through upon this
+polished surface.  No, I see nothing.  I don't think there is
+anything more to be learned here.  Now for the central table.
+This small pellet is, I presume, the black, doughy mass you spoke
+of.  Roughly pyramidal in shape and hollowed out, I perceive.
+As you say, there appear to be grains of sawdust in it.  Dear me,
+this is very interesting.  And the cut -- a positive tear, I see.
+It began with a thin scratch and ended in a jagged hole.  I am
+much indebted to you for directing my attention to this case,
+Mr. Soames.  Where does that door lead to?"
+
+"To my bedroom."
+
+"Have you been in it since your adventure?"
+
+"No; I came straight away for you."
+
+"I should like to have a glance round.  What a charming,
+old-fashioned room!  Perhaps you will kindly wait a minute until
+I have examined the floor.  No, I see nothing.  What about this
+curtain?  You hang your clothes behind it.  If anyone were forced
+to conceal himself in this room he must do it there, since the
+bed is too low and the wardrobe too shallow.  No one there,
+I suppose?"
+
+As Holmes drew the curtain I was aware, from some little
+rigidity and alertness of his attitude, that he was prepared for
+an emergency.  As a matter of fact the drawn curtain disclosed
+nothing but three or four suits of clothes hanging from a line
+of pegs.  Holmes turned away and stooped suddenly to the floor.
+
+"Halloa!  What's this?" said he.
+
+It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like
+the one upon the table of the study.  Holmes held it out on his
+open palm in the glare of the electric light.
+
+"Your visitor seems to have left traces in your bedroom as well
+as in your sitting-room, Mr. Soames."
+
+"What could he have wanted there?"
+
+"I think it is clear enough.  You came back by an unexpected
+way, and so he had no warning until you were at the very door.
+What could he do?  He caught up everything which would betray
+him and he rushed into your bedroom to conceal himself."
+
+"Good gracious, Mr. Holmes, do you mean to tell me that all the
+time I was talking to Bannister in this room we had the man
+prisoner if we had only known it?"
+
+"So I read it."
+
+"Surely there is another alternative, Mr. Holmes.  I don't know
+whether you observed my bedroom window?"
+
+"Lattice-paned, lead framework, three separate windows,
+one swinging on hinge and large enough to admit a man."
+
+"Exactly.  And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard
+so as to be partly invisible.  The man might have effected his
+entrance there, left traces as he passed through the bedroom,
+and, finally, finding the door open have escaped that way."
+
+Holmes shook his head impatiently.
+
+"Let us be practical," said he.  "I understand you to say
+that there are three students who use this stair and are
+in the habit of passing your door?"
+
+"Yes, there are."
+
+"And they are all in for this examination?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you any reason to suspect any one of them more than
+the others?"
+
+Soames hesitated.
+
+"It is a very delicate question," said he.  "One hardly likes
+to throw suspicion where there are no proofs."
+
+"Let us hear the suspicions.  I will look after the proofs."
+
+"I will tell you, then, in a few words the character of the
+three men who inhabit these rooms.  The lower of the three is
+Gilchrist, a fine scholar and athlete; plays in the Rugby team
+and the cricket team for the college, and got his Blue for the
+hurdles and the long jump.  He is a fine, manly fellow.  His
+father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist, who ruined himself
+on the turf.  My scholar has been left very poor, but he is
+hard-working and industrious.  He will do well.
+
+"The second floor is inhabited by Daulat Ras, the Indian.
+He is a quiet, inscrutable fellow, as most of those Indians are.
+He is well up in his work, though his Greek is his weak subject.
+He is steady and methodical.
+
+"The top floor belongs to Miles McLaren.  He is a brilliant
+fellow when he chooses to work -- one of the brightest
+intellects of the University, but he is wayward, dissipated,
+and unprincipled.  He was nearly expelled over a card scandal
+in his first year.  He has been idling all this term, and he
+must look forward with dread to the examination."
+
+"Then it is he whom you suspect?"
+
+"I dare not go so far as that.  But of the three he is perhaps
+the least unlikely."
+
+"Exactly.  Now, Mr. Soames, let us have a look at your servant,
+Bannister."
+
+He was a little, white-faced, clean-shaven, grizzly-haired
+fellow of fifty.  He was still suffering from this sudden
+disturbance of the quiet routine of his life.  His plump face
+was twitching with his nervousness, and his fingers could not
+keep still.
+
+"We are investigating this unhappy business, Bannister,"
+said his master.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"I understand," said Holmes, "that you left your key in the door?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Was it not very extraordinary that you should do this on the
+very day when there were these papers inside?"
+
+"It was most unfortunate, sir.  But I have occasionally done
+the same thing at other times."
+
+"When did you enter the room?"
+
+"It was about half-past four.  That is Mr. Soames's tea time."
+
+"How long did you stay?"
+
+"When I saw that he was absent I withdrew at once."
+
+"Did you look at these papers on the table?"
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"How came you to leave the key in the door?"
+
+"I had the tea-tray in my hand.  I thought I would come back
+for the key.  Then I forgot."
+
+"Has the outer door a spring lock?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Then it was open all the time?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Anyone in the room could get out?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"When Mr. Soames returned and called for you, you were very
+much disturbed?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Such a thing has never happened during the many
+years that I have been here.  I nearly fainted, sir."
+
+"So I understand.  Where were you when you began to feel bad?"
+
+"Where was I, sir?  Why, here, near the door."
+
+"That is singular, because you sat down in that chair over
+yonder near the corner.  Why did you pass these other chairs?"
+
+"I don't know, sir.  It didn't matter to me where I sat."
+
+"I really don't think he knew much about it, Mr. Holmes.
+He was looking very bad -- quite ghastly."
+
+"You stayed here when your master left?"
+
+"Only for a minute or so.  Then I locked the door and went
+to my room."
+
+"Whom do you suspect?"
+
+"Oh, I would not venture to say, sir.  I don't believe there
+is any gentleman in this University who is capable of profiting
+by such an action.  No, sir, I'll not believe it."
+
+"Thank you; that will do," said Holmes.  "Oh, one more word.
+You have not mentioned to any of the three gentlemen whom you
+attend that anything is amiss?"
+
+"No, sir; not a word."
+
+"You haven't seen any of them?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Very good.  Now, Mr. Soames, we will take a walk in the
+quadrangle, if you please."
+
+Three yellow squares of light shone above us in the gathering
+gloom.
+
+"Your three birds are all in their nests," said Holmes, looking up.
+"Halloa!  What's that?  One of them seems restless enough."
+
+It was the Indian, whose dark silhouette appeared suddenly
+upon his blind.  He was pacing swiftly up and down his room.
+
+"I should like to have a peep at each of them," said Holmes.
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"No difficulty in the world," Soames answered.  "This set of
+rooms is quite the oldest in the college, and it is not unusual
+for visitors to go over them.  Come along, and I will personally
+conduct you."
+
+"No names, please!" said Holmes, as we knocked at Gilchrist's
+door.  A tall, flaxen-haired, slim young fellow opened it, and
+made us welcome when he understood our errand.  There were some
+really curious pieces of mediaeval domestic architecture within.
+Holmes was so charmed with one of them that he insisted on
+drawing it on his note-book, broke his pencil, had to borrow one
+from our host, and finally borrowed a knife to sharpen his own.
+The same curious accident happened to him in the rooms of the
+Indian -- a silent, little, hook-nosed fellow, who eyed us
+askance and was obviously glad when Holmes's architectural
+studies had come to an end.  I could not see that in either
+case Holmes had come upon the clue for which he was searching.
+Only at the third did our visit prove abortive.  The outer door
+would not open to our knock, and nothing more substantial than
+a torrent of bad language came from behind it.  "I don't care
+who you are.  You can go to blazes!" roared the angry voice.
+"To-morrow's the exam, and I won't be drawn by anyone."
+
+"A rude fellow," said our guide, flushing with anger as we
+withdrew down the stair.  "Of course, he did not realize that it
+was I who was knocking, but none the less his conduct was very
+uncourteous, and, indeed, under the circumstances rather
+suspicious."
+
+Holmes's response was a curious one.
+
+"Can you tell me his exact height?" he asked.
+
+"Really, Mr. Holmes, I cannot undertake to say.  He is taller
+than the Indian, not so tall as Gilchrist.  I suppose five foot
+six would be about it."
+
+"That is very important," said Holmes.  "And now, Mr. Soames,
+I wish you good-night."
+
+Our guide cried aloud in his astonishment and dismay.  "Good
+gracious, Mr. Holmes, you are surely not going to leave me in
+this abrupt fashion!  You don't seem to realize the position.
+To-morrow is the examination.  I must take some definite action
+to-night.  I cannot allow the examination to be held if one of
+the papers has been tampered with.  The situation must be faced."
+
+"You must leave it as it is.  I shall drop round early to-morrow
+morning and chat the matter over.  It is possible that I may
+be in a position then to indicate some course of action.
+Meanwhile you change nothing -- nothing at all."
+
+"Very good, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"You can be perfectly easy in your mind.  We shall certainly
+find some way out of your difficulties.  I will take the black
+clay with me, also the pencil cuttings.  Good-bye."
+
+When we were out in the darkness of the quadrangle we again
+looked up at the windows.  The Indian still paced his room.
+The others were invisible.
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you think of it?" Holmes asked, as we
+came out into the main street.  "Quite a little parlour game --
+sort of three-card trick, is it not?  There are your three men.
+It must be one of them.  You take your choice.  Which is yours?"
+
+"The foul-mouthed fellow at the top.  He is the one with the
+worst record.  And yet that Indian was a sly fellow also.
+Why should he be pacing his room all the time?"
+
+"There is nothing in that.  Many men do it when they are trying
+to learn anything by heart."
+
+"He looked at us in a queer way."
+
+"So would you if a flock of strangers came in on you when you
+were preparing for an examination next day, and every moment was
+of value.  No, I see nothing in that.  Pencils, too, and knives
+-- all was satisfactory.  But that fellow DOES puzzle me."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Why, Bannister, the servant.  What's his game in the matter?"
+
+"He impressed me as being a perfectly honest man."
+
+"So he did me.  That's the puzzling part.  Why should a
+perfectly honest man -- well, well, here's a large stationer's.
+We shall begin our researches here."
+
+There were only four stationers of any consequence in the town,
+and at each Holmes produced his pencil chips and bid high for a
+duplicate.  All were agreed that one could be ordered, but that
+it was not a usual size of pencil and that it was seldom kept in
+stock.  My friend did not appear to be depressed by his failure,
+but shrugged his shoulders in half-humorous resignation.
+
+"No good, my dear Watson.  This, the best and only final clue,
+has run to nothing.  But, indeed, I have little doubt that we can
+build up a sufficient case without it.  By Jove! my dear fellow,
+it is nearly nine, and the landlady babbled of green peas at
+seven-thirty.  What with your eternal tobacco, Watson, and your
+irregularity at meals, I expect that you will get notice to quit
+and that I shall share your downfall -- not, however, before we
+have solved the problem of the nervous tutor, the careless
+servant, and the three enterprising students."
+
+
+Holmes made no further allusion to the matter that day, though
+he sat lost in thought for a long time after our belated dinner.
+At eight in the morning he came into my room just as I finished
+my toilet.
+
+"Well, Watson," said he, "it is time we went down to St. Luke's.
+Can you do without breakfast?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Soames will be in a dreadful fidget until we are able to tell
+him something positive."
+
+"Have you anything positive to tell him?"
+
+"I think so."
+
+"You have formed a conclusion?"
+
+"Yes, my dear Watson; I have solved the mystery."
+
+"But what fresh evidence could you have got?"
+
+"Aha!  It is not for nothing that I have turned myself out
+of bed at the untimely hour of six.  I have put in two hours'
+hard work and covered at least five miles, with something
+to show for it.  Look at that!"
+
+He held out his hand.  On the palm were three little pyramids
+of black, doughy clay.
+
+"Why, Holmes, you had only two yesterday!"
+
+"And one more this morning.  It is a fair argument that wherever
+No. 3 came from is also the source of Nos. 1 and 2.  Eh, Watson?
+Well, come along and put friend Soames out of his pain."
+
+
+The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable
+agitation when we found him in his chambers.  In a few hours the
+examination would commence, and he was still in the dilemma
+between making the facts public and allowing the culprit to
+compete for the valuable scholarship.  He could hardly stand
+still, so great was his mental agitation, and he ran towards
+Holmes with two eager hands outstretched.
+
+"Thank Heaven that you have come!  I feared that you had given it
+up in despair.  What am I to do?  Shall the examination proceed?"
+
+"Yes; let it proceed by all means."
+
+"But this rascal ----?"
+
+"He shall not compete."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"I think so.  If this matter is not to become public we must
+give ourselves certain powers, and resolve ourselves into a small
+private court-martial.  You there, if you please, Soames!  Watson,
+you here!  I'll take the arm-chair in the middle.  I think that
+we are now sufficiently imposing to strike terror into a guilty
+breast.  Kindly ring the bell!"
+
+Bannister entered, and shrunk back in evident surprise and fear
+at our judicial appearance.
+
+"You will kindly close the door," said Holmes.  "Now, Bannister,
+will you please tell us the truth about yesterday's incident?"
+
+The man turned white to the roots of his hair.
+
+"I have told you everything, sir."
+
+"Nothing to add?"
+
+"Nothing at all, sir."
+
+"Well, then, I must make some suggestions to you.  When you sat
+down on that chair yesterday, did you do so in order to conceal
+some object which would have shown who had been in the room?"
+
+Bannister's face was ghastly.
+
+"No, sir; certainly not."
+
+"It is only a suggestion," said Holmes, suavely.  "I frankly
+admit that I am unable to prove it.  But it seems probable
+enough, since the moment that Mr. Soames's back was turned
+you released the man who was hiding in that bedroom."
+
+Bannister licked his dry lips.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Ah, that's a pity, Bannister.  Up to now you may have spoken
+the truth, but now I know that you have lied."
+
+The man's face set in sullen defiance.
+
+"There was no man, sir."
+
+"Come, come, Bannister!"
+
+"No, sir; there was no one."
+
+"In that case you can give us no further information.
+Would you please remain in the room?  Stand over there near
+the bedroom door.  Now, Soames, I am going to ask you to have
+the great kindness to go up to the room of young Gilchrist,
+and to ask him to step down into yours."
+
+An instant later the tutor returned, bringing with him the
+student.  He was a fine figure of a man, tall, lithe, and agile,
+with a springy step and a pleasant, open face.  His troubled blue
+eyes glanced at each of us, and finally rested with an expression
+of blank dismay upon Bannister in the farther corner.
+
+"Just close the door," said Holmes.  "Now, Mr. Gilchrist,
+we are all quite alone here, and no one need ever know one word
+of what passes between us.  We can be perfectly frank with each
+other.  We want to know, Mr. Gilchrist, how you, an honourable
+man, ever came to commit such an action as that of yesterday?"
+
+The unfortunate young man staggered back and cast a look full
+of horror and reproach at Bannister.
+
+"No, no, Mr. Gilchrist, sir; I never said a word -- never one
+word!" cried the servant.
+
+"No, but you have now," said Holmes.  "Now, sir, you must
+see that after Bannister's words your position is hopeless,
+and that your only chance lies in a frank confession."
+
+For a moment Gilchrist, with upraised hand, tried to control
+his writhing features.  The next he had thrown himself on his
+knees beside the table and, burying his face in his hands,
+he had burst into a storm of passionate sobbing.
+
+"Come, come," said Holmes, kindly; "it is human to err,
+and at least no one can accuse you of being a callous criminal.
+Perhaps it would be easier for you if I were to tell Mr. Soames
+what occurred, and you can check me where I am wrong.  Shall I
+do so?  Well, well, don't trouble to answer.  Listen, and see
+that I do you no injustice.
+
+"From the moment, Mr. Soames, that you said to me that no one,
+not even Bannister, could have told that the papers were in
+your room, the case began to take a definite shape in my mind.
+The printer one could, of course, dismiss.  He could examine the
+papers in his own office.  The Indian I also thought nothing of.
+If the proofs were in a roll he could not possibly know what they
+were.  On the other hand, it seemed an unthinkable coincidence
+that a man should dare to enter the room, and that by chance on
+that very day the papers were on the table.  I dismissed that.
+The man who entered knew that the papers were there.  How did
+he know?
+
+"When I approached your room I examined the window.  You amused
+me by supposing that I was contemplating the possibility of
+someone having in broad daylight, under the eyes of all these
+opposite rooms, forced himself through it.  Such an idea was
+absurd.  I was measuring how tall a man would need to be in order
+to see as he passed what papers were on the central table.  I am
+six feet high, and I could do it with an effort.  No one less
+than that would have a chance.  Already you see I had reason to
+think that if one of your three students was a man of unusual
+height he was the most worth watching of the three.
+
+"I entered and I took you into my confidence as to the
+suggestions of the side table.  Of the centre table I could make
+nothing, until in your description of Gilchrist you mentioned
+that he was a long-distance jumper.  Then the whole thing came to
+me in an instant, and I only needed certain corroborative proofs,
+which I speedily obtained.
+
+"What happened was this.  This young fellow had employed his
+afternoon at the athletic grounds, where he had been practising
+the jump.  He returned carrying his jumping shoes, which are
+provided, as you are aware, with several sharp spikes.  As he
+passed your window he saw, by means of his great height, these
+proofs upon your table, and conjectured what they were.  No harm
+would have been done had it not been that as he passed your door
+he perceived the key which had been left by the carelessness of
+your servant.  A sudden impulse came over him to enter and see
+if they were indeed the proofs.  It was not a dangerous exploit,
+for he could always pretend that he had simply looked in to ask
+a question.
+
+"Well, when he saw that they were indeed the proofs, it was
+then that he yielded to temptation.  He put his shoes on the
+table.  What was it you put on that chair near the window?"
+
+"Gloves," said the young man.
+
+Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister.  "He put his gloves on
+the chair, and he took the proofs, sheet by sheet, to copy them.
+He thought the tutor must return by the main gate, and that he
+would see him.  As we know, he came back by the side gate.
+Suddenly he heard him at the very door.  There was no possible
+escape.  He forgot his gloves, but he caught up his shoes and
+darted into the bedroom.  You observe that the scratch on that
+table is slight at one side, but deepens in the direction of the
+bedroom door.  That in itself is enough to show us that the shoe
+had been drawn in that direction and that the culprit had taken
+refuge there.  The earth round the spike had been left on the
+table, and a second sample was loosened and fell in the bedroom.
+I may add that I walked out to the athletic grounds this morning,
+saw that tenacious black clay is used in the jumping-pit, and
+carried away a specimen of it, together with some of the fine tan
+or sawdust which is strewn over it to prevent the athlete from
+slipping.  Have I told the truth, Mr. Gilchrist?"
+
+The student had drawn himself erect.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true," said he.
+
+"Good heavens, have you nothing to add?" cried Soames.
+
+"Yes, sir, I have, but the shock of this disgraceful exposure has
+bewildered me.  I have a letter here, Mr. Soames, which I wrote
+to you early this morning in the middle of a restless night.
+It was before I knew that my sin had found me out.  Here it is,
+sir.  You will see that I have said, `I have determined not to go
+in for the examination.  I have been offered a commission in the
+Rhodesian Police, and I am going out to South Africa at once."'
+
+"I am indeed pleased to hear that you did not intend to profit
+by your unfair advantage," said Soames.  "But why did you change
+your purpose?"
+
+Gilchrist pointed to Bannister.
+
+"There is the man who set me in the right path," said he.
+
+"Come now, Bannister," said Holmes.  "It will be clear to you
+from what I have said that only you could have let this young
+man out, since you were left in the room, and must have locked
+the door when you went out.  As to his escaping by that window,
+it was incredible.  Can you not clear up the last point in this
+mystery, and tell us the reasons for your action?"
+
+"It was simple enough, sir, if you only had known; but with all
+your cleverness it was impossible that you could know.  Time was,
+sir, when I was butler to old Sir Jabez Gilchrist, this young
+gentleman's father.  When he was ruined I came to the college as
+servant, but I never forgot my old employer because he was down
+in the world.  I watched his son all I could for the sake of the
+old days.  Well, sir, when I came into this room yesterday when
+the alarm was given, the very first thing I saw was Mr. Gilchrist's
+tan gloves a-lying in that chair.  I knew those gloves well,
+and I understood their message.  If Mr. Soames saw them the game
+was up.  I flopped down into that chair, and nothing would budge
+me until Mr. Soames he went for you.  Then out came my poor young
+master, whom I had dandled on my knee, and confessed it all to me.
+Wasn't it natural, sir, that I should save him, and wasn't it
+natural also that I should try to speak to him as his dead father
+would have done, and make him understand that he could not profit
+by such a deed?  Could you blame me, sir?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Holmes, heartily, springing to his feet.
+"Well, Soames, I think we have cleared your little problem up, and
+our breakfast awaits us at home.  Come, Watson!  As to you, sir,
+I trust that a bright future awaits you in Rhodesia.  For once you
+have fallen low.  Let us see in the future how high you can rise."
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  JULY, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
+
+X. --- The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.
+
+
+WHEN I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which
+contain our work for the year 1894 I confess that it is very
+difficult for me, out of such a wealth of material, to select
+the cases which are most interesting in themselves and at the
+same time most conducive to a display of those peculiar powers
+for which my friend was famous.  As I turn over the pages I see
+my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech and the
+terrible death of Crosby the banker.  Here also I find an
+account of the Addleton tragedy and the singular contents
+of the ancient British barrow.  The famous Smith-Mortimer
+succession case comes also within this period, and so does
+the tracking and arrest of Huret, the Boulevard assassin --
+an exploit which won for Holmes an autograph letter of thanks
+from the French President and the Order of the Legion of Honour.
+Each of these would furnish a narrative, but on the whole I am
+of opinion that none of them unite so many singular points of
+interest as the episode of Yoxley Old Place, which includes not
+only the lamentable death of young Willoughby Smith, but also
+those subsequent developments which threw so curious a light
+upon the causes of the crime.
+
+It was a wild, tempestuous night towards the close of November.
+Holmes and I sat together in silence all the evening, he engaged
+with a powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original
+inscription upon a palimpsest, I deep in a recent treatise upon
+surgery.  Outside the wind howled down Baker Street, while the
+rain beat fiercely against the windows.  It was strange there
+in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's
+handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature,
+and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London
+was no more than the molehills that dot the fields.
+I walked to the window and looked out on the deserted street.
+The occasional lamps gleamed on the expanse of muddy road and
+shining pavement.  A single cab was splashing its way from the
+Oxford Street end.
+
+"Well, Watson, it's as well we have not to turn out to-night,"
+said Holmes, laying aside his lens and rolling up the palimpsest.
+"I've done enough for one sitting.  It is trying work for the eyes.
+So far as I can make out it is nothing more exciting than an Abbey's
+accounts dating from the second half of the fifteenth century.
+Halloa! halloa! halloa!  What's this?"
+
+Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a
+horse's hoofs and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against
+the kerb.  The cab which I had seen had pulled up at our door.
+
+"What can he want?" I ejaculated, as a man stepped out of it.
+
+"Want!  He wants us.  And we, my poor Watson, want overcoats and
+cravats and goloshes, and every aid that man ever invented to
+fight the weather.  Wait a bit, though!  There's the cab off again!
+There's hope yet.  He'd have kept it if he had wanted us to come.
+Run down, my dear fellow, and open the door, for all virtuous
+folk have been long in bed."
+
+When the light of the hall lamp fell upon our midnight visitor
+I had no difficulty in recognising him.  It was young Stanley
+Hopkins, a promising detective, in whose career Holmes had
+several times shown a very practical interest.
+
+"Is he in?" he asked, eagerly.
+
+"Come up, my dear sir," said Holmes's voice from above.
+"I hope you have no designs upon us on such a night as this."
+
+
+The detective mounted the stairs, and our lamp gleamed upon his
+shining waterproof.  I helped him out of it while Holmes
+knocked a blaze out of the logs in the grate.
+
+"Now, my dear Hopkins, draw up and warm your toes," said he.
+"Here's a cigar, and the doctor has a prescription containing hot
+water and a lemon which is good medicine on a night like this.
+It must be something important which has brought you out
+in such a gale."
+
+"It is indeed, Mr. Holmes.  I've had a bustling afternoon,
+I promise you.  Did you see anything of the Yoxley case in
+the latest editions?"
+
+"I've seen nothing later than the fifteenth century to-day."
+
+"Well, it was only a paragraph, and all wrong at that, so you
+have not missed anything.  I haven't let the grass grow under
+my feet.  It's down in Kent, seven miles from Chatham and three
+from the railway line.  I was wired for at three-fifteen, reached
+Yoxley Old Place at five, conducted my investigation, was back
+at Charing Cross by the last train, and straight to you by cab."
+
+"Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case?"
+
+"It means that I can make neither head nor tail of it.
+So far as I can see it is just as tangled a business as ever I
+handled, and yet at first it seemed so simple that one couldn't
+go wrong.  There's no motive, Mr. Holmes.  That's what bothers
+me -- I can't put my hand on a motive.  Here's a man dead --
+there's no denying that -- but, so far as I can see, no reason
+on earth why anyone should wish him harm."
+
+Holmes lit his cigar and leaned back in his chair.
+
+"Let us hear about it," said he.
+
+"I've got my facts pretty clear," said Stanley Hopkins.
+"All I want now is to know what they all mean.  The story,
+so far as I can make it out, is like this.  Some years ago this
+country house, Yoxley Old Place, was taken by an elderly man,
+who gave the name of Professor Coram.  He was an invalid,
+keeping his bed half the time, and the other half hobbling round
+the house with a stick or being pushed about the grounds by the
+gardener in a bath-chair.  He was well liked by the few neighbours
+who called upon him, and he has the reputation down there of
+being a very learned man.  His household used to consist of an
+elderly housekeeper, Mrs. Marker, and of a maid, Susan Tarlton.
+These have both been with him since his arrival, and they seem
+to be women of excellent character.  The Professor is writing
+a learned book, and he found it necessary about a year ago to
+engage a secretary.  The first two that he tried were not
+successes; but the third, Mr. Willoughby Smith, a very young man
+straight from the University, seems to have been just what his
+employer wanted.  His work consisted in writing all the morning
+to the Professor's dictation, and he usually spent the evening
+in hunting up references and passages which bore upon the next
+day's work.  This Willoughby Smith has nothing against him
+either as a boy at Uppingham or as a young man at Cambridge.
+I have seen his testimonials, and from the first he was a decent,
+quiet, hardworking fellow, with no weak spot in him at all.
+And yet this is the lad who has met his death this morning in the
+Professor's study under circumstances which can point only to murder."
+
+The wind howled and screamed at the windows.  Holmes and I drew
+closer to the fire while the young inspector slowly and point
+by point developed his singular narrative.
+
+"If you were to search all England," said he, "I don't suppose
+you could find a household more self-contained or free from
+outside influences.  Whole weeks would pass and not one of them
+go past the garden gate.  The Professor was buried in his work
+and existed for nothing else.  Young Smith knew nobody in the
+neighbourhood, and lived very much as his employer did.  The two
+women had nothing to take them from the house.  Mortimer the
+gardener, who wheels the bath-chair, is an Army pensioner -- an
+old Crimean man of excellent character.  He does not live in the
+house, but in a three-roomed cottage at the other end of the
+garden.  Those are the only people that you would find within
+the grounds of Yoxley Old Place.  At the same time, the gate
+of the garden is a hundred yards from the main London to Chatham
+road.  It opens with a latch, and there is nothing to prevent
+anyone from walking in.
+
+"Now I will give you the evidence of Susan Tarlton, who is the
+only person who can say anything positive about the matter.
+It was in the forenoon, between eleven and twelve.
+She was engaged at the moment in hanging some curtains in
+the upstairs front bedroom.  Professor Coram was still in bed,
+for when the weather is bad he seldom rises before midday.
+The housekeeper was busied with some work in the back of the house.
+Willoughby Smith had been in his bedroom, which he uses as a
+sitting-room; but the maid heard him at that moment pass along
+the passage and descend to the study immediately below her.
+She did not see him, but she says that she could not be mistaken
+in his quick, firm tread.  She did not hear the study door close,
+but a minute or so later there was a dreadful cry in the room below.
+It was a wild, hoarse scream, so strange and unnatural that it
+might have come either from a man or a woman.  At the same instant
+there was a heavy thud, which shook the old house, and then all
+was silence.  The maid stood petrified for a moment, and then,
+recovering her courage, she ran downstairs.  The study door was shut,
+and she opened it.  Inside young Mr. Willoughby Smith was stretched
+upon the floor.  At first she could see no injury, but as she tried
+to raise him she saw that blood was pouring from the underside of
+his neck.  It was pierced by a very small but very deep wound,
+which had divided the carotid artery.  The instrument with which
+the injury had been inflicted lay upon the carpet beside him.
+It was one of those small sealing-wax knives to be found on
+old-fashioned writing-tables, with an ivory handle and a stiff
+blade.  It was part of the fittings of the Professor's own desk.
+
+"At first the maid thought that young Smith was already dead,
+but on pouring some water from the carafe over his forehead he
+opened his eyes for an instant.  `The Professor,' he murmured --
+`it was she.'  The maid is prepared to swear that those were
+the exact words.  He tried desperately to say something else,
+and he held his right hand up in the air.  Then he fell back dead.
+
+"In the meantime the housekeeper had also arrived upon the scene,
+but she was just too late to catch the young man's dying words.
+Leaving Susan with the body, she hurried to the Professor's room.
+He was sitting up in bed horribly agitated, for he had heard
+enough to convince him that something terrible had occurred.
+Mrs. Marker is prepared to swear that the Professor was still
+in his night-clothes, and, indeed, it was impossible for him to
+dress without the help of Mortimer, whose orders were to come
+at twelve o'clock.  The Professor declares that he heard the
+distant cry, but that he knows nothing more.  He can give no
+explanation of the young man's last words, `The Professor --
+it was she,' but imagines that they were the outcome of delirium.
+He believes that Willoughby Smith had not an enemy in the world,
+and can give no reason for the crime.  His first action was to
+send Mortimer the gardener for the local police.  A little later
+the chief constable sent for me.  Nothing was moved before I
+got there, and strict orders were given that no one should walk
+upon the paths leading to the house.  It was a splendid chance
+of putting your theories into practice, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
+There was really nothing wanting."
+
+"Except Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said my companion, with a somewhat
+bitter smile.  "Well, let us hear about it.  What sort of job
+did you make of it?"
+
+"I must ask you first, Mr. Holmes, to glance at this rough plan,
+which will give you a general idea of the position of the
+Professor's study and the various points of the case.
+It will help you in following my investigation."
+
+He unfolded the rough chart, which I here reproduce, and he laid
+it across Holmes's knee.  I rose, and, standing behind Holmes,
+I studied it over his shoulder.
+
+ GRAPHIC
+
+"It is very rough, of course, and it only deals with the points
+which seem to me to be essential.  All the rest you will see
+later for yourself.  Now, first of all, presuming that the
+assassin entered the house, how did he or she come in?
+Undoubtedly by the garden path and the back door, from which
+there is direct access to the study.  Any other way would have
+been exceedingly complicated.  The escape must have also been
+made along that line, for of the two other exits from the room
+one was blocked by Susan as she ran downstairs and the other
+leads straight to the Professor's bedroom.  I therefore directed
+my attention at once to the garden path, which was saturated
+with recent rain and would certainly show any footmarks.
+
+"My examination showed me that I was dealing with a cautious
+and expert criminal.  No footmarks were to be found on the path.
+There could be no question, however, that someone had passed
+along the grass border which lines the path, and that he had
+done so in order to avoid leaving a track.  I could not find
+anything in the nature of a distinct impression, but the grass
+was trodden down and someone had undoubtedly passed.  It could
+only have been the murderer, since neither the gardener nor
+anyone else had been there that morning and the rain had only
+begun during the night."
+
+"One moment," said Holmes.  "Where does this path lead to?"
+
+"To the road."
+
+"How long is it?"
+
+"A hundred yards or so."
+
+"At the point where the path passes through the gate you could
+surely pick up the tracks?"
+
+"Unfortunately, the path was tiled at that point."
+
+"Well, on the road itself?"
+
+"No; it was all trodden into mire."
+
+"Tut-tut!  Well, then, these tracks upon the grass,
+were they coming or going?"
+
+"It was impossible to say.  There was never any outline."
+
+"A large foot or a small?"
+
+"You could not distinguish."
+
+Holmes gave an ejaculation of impatience.
+
+"It has been pouring rain and blowing a hurricane ever since,"
+said he.  "It will be harder to read now than that palimpsest.
+Well, well, it can't be helped.  What did you do, Hopkins,
+after you had made certain that you had made certain of nothing?"
+
+"I think I made certain of a good deal, Mr. Holmes.
+I knew that someone had entered the house cautiously from without.
+I next examined the corridor.  It is lined with cocoanut matting
+and had taken no impression of any kind.  This brought me into the
+study itself.  It is a scantily-furnished room.  The main article
+is a large writing-table with a fixed bureau.  This bureau
+consists of a double column of drawers with a central small
+cupboard between them.  The drawers were open, the cupboard locked.
+The drawers, it seems, were always open, and nothing of value was
+kept in them.  There were some papers of importance in the cupboard,
+but there were no signs that this had been tampered with, and the
+Professor assures me that nothing was missing.  It is certain that
+no robbery has been committed.
+
+"I come now to the body of the young man.
+It was found near the bureau, and just to the left of it,
+as marked upon that chart. The stab was on the right side
+of the neck and from behind forwards, so that it is almost
+impossible that it could have been self-inflicted."
+
+"Unless he fell upon the knife," said Holmes.
+
+"Exactly.  The idea crossed my mind.  But we found the knife some
+feet away from the body, so that seems impossible.  Then, of course,
+there are the man's own dying words.  And, finally, there was this
+very important piece of evidence which was found clasped in the
+dead man's right hand."
+
+From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet.
+He unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken
+ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it.
+"Willoughby Smith had excellent sight," he added.  "There can be
+no question that this was snatched from the face or the person
+of the assassin."
+
+Sherlock Holmes took the glasses into his hand and examined
+them with the utmost attention and interest.  He held them on
+his nose, endeavoured to read through them, went to the window
+and stared up the street with them, looked at them most minutely
+in the full light of the lamp, and finally, with a chuckle,
+seated himself at the table and wrote a few lines upon a sheet
+of paper, which he tossed across to Stanley Hopkins.
+
+"That's the best I can do for you," said he.
+"It may prove to be of some use."
+
+The astonished detective read the note aloud.  It ran as follows:--
+
+"Wanted, a woman of good address, attired like a lady.
+She has a remarkably thick nose, with eyes which are set close
+upon either side of it.  She has a puckered forehead, a peering
+expression, and probably rounded shoulders.  There are
+indications that she has had recourse to an optician at least
+twice during the last few months.  As her glasses are of
+remarkable strength and as opticians are not very numerous,
+there should be no difficulty in tracing her."
+
+Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have
+been reflected upon my features.
+
+"Surely my deductions are simplicity itself," said he.
+"It would be difficult to name any articles which afford a finer
+field for inference than a pair of glasses, especially so
+remarkable a pair as these.  That they belong to a woman I
+infer from their delicacy, and also, of course, from the last
+words of the dying man.  As to her being a person of refinement
+and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted
+in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such
+glasses could be slatternly in other respects.  You will find
+that the clips are too wide for your nose, showing that the
+lady's nose was very broad at the base.  This sort of nose is
+usually a short and coarse one, but there are a sufficient number
+of exceptions to prevent me from being dogmatic or from insisting
+upon this point in my description.  My own face is a narrow one,
+and yet I find that I cannot get my eyes into the centre, or
+near the centre, of these glasses.  Therefore the lady's eyes
+are set very near to the sides of the nose.  You will perceive,
+Watson, that the glasses are concave and of unusual strength.
+A lady whose vision has been so extremely contracted all her
+life is sure to have the physical characteristics of such vision,
+which are seen in the forehead, the eyelids, and the shoulders."
+
+"Yes," I said, "I can follow each of your arguments.  I confess,
+however, that I am unable to understand how you arrive at the
+double visit to the optician."
+
+Holmes took the glasses in his hand.
+
+"You will perceive," he said, "that the clips are lined with
+tiny bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose.  One of
+these is discoloured and worn to some slight extent, but the
+other is new.  Evidently one has fallen off and been replaced.
+I should judge that the older of them has not been there more
+than a few months.  They exactly correspond, so I gather that
+the lady went back to the same establishment for the second."
+
+"By George, it's marvellous!" cried Hopkins, in an ecstasy of
+admiration.  "To think that I had all that evidence in my hand
+and never knew it!  I had intended, however, to go the round of
+the London opticians."
+
+"Of course you would.  Meanwhile, have you anything more to tell
+us about the case?"
+
+"Nothing, Mr. Holmes.  I think that you know as much as I do
+now -- probably more.  We have had inquiries made as to any
+stranger seen on the country roads or at the railway station.
+We have heard of none.  What beats me is the utter want of all
+object in the crime.  Not a ghost of a motive can anyone suggest."
+
+"Ah! there I am not in a position to help you.  But I suppose
+you want us to come out to-morrow?"
+
+"If it is not asking too much, Mr. Holmes.  There's a train from
+Charing Cross to Chatham at six in the morning, and we should be
+at Yoxley Old Place between eight and nine."
+
+"Then we shall take it.  Your case has certainly some features
+of great interest, and I shall be delighted to look into it.
+Well, it's nearly one, and we had best get a few hours' sleep.
+I dare say you can manage all right on the sofa in front of the
+fire.  I'll light my spirit-lamp and give you a cup of coffee
+before we start."
+
+
+The gale had blown itself out next day, but it was a bitter
+morning when we started upon our journey.  We saw the cold
+winter sun rise over the dreary marshes of the Thames and the
+long, sullen reaches of the river, which I shall ever associate
+with our pursuit of the Andaman Islander in the earlier days of
+our career.  After a long and weary journey we alighted at a
+small station some miles from Chatham.  While a horse was being
+put into a trap at the local inn we snatched a hurried breakfast,
+and so we were all ready for business when we at last arrived
+at Yoxley Old Place.  A constable met us at the garden gate.
+
+"Well, Wilson, any news?"
+
+"No, sir, nothing."
+
+"No reports of any stranger seen?"
+
+"No, sir.  Down at the station they are certain that no stranger
+either came or went yesterday."
+
+"Have you had inquiries made at inns and lodgings?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no one that we cannot account for."
+
+"Well, it's only a reasonable walk to Chatham.  Anyone might
+stay there, or take a train without being observed.  This is the
+garden path of which I spoke, Mr. Holmes.  I'll pledge my word
+there was no mark on it yesterday."
+
+"On which side were the marks on the grass?"
+
+"This side, sir.  This narrow margin of grass between the path
+and the flower-bed.  I can't see the traces now, but they were
+clear to me then."
+
+"Yes, yes; someone has passed along," said Holmes, stooping over
+the grass border.  "Our lady must have picked her steps carefully,
+must she not, since on the one side she would leave a track on
+the path, and on the other an even clearer one on the soft bed?"
+
+"Yes, sir, she must have been a cool hand."
+
+I saw an intent look pass over Holmes's face.
+
+"You say that she must have come back this way?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there is no other."
+
+"On this strip of grass?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Hum!  It was a very remarkable performance -- very remarkable.
+Well, I think we have exhausted the path.  Let us go farther.
+This garden door is usually kept open, I suppose?  Then this
+visitor had nothing to do but to walk in.  The idea of murder
+was not in her mind, or she would have provided herself with
+some sort of weapon, instead of having to pick this knife off
+the writing-table.  She advanced along this corridor, leaving no
+traces upon the cocoanut matting.  Then she found herself in this
+study.  How long was she there?  We have no means of judging."
+
+"Not more than a few minutes, sir.  I forgot to tell you that
+Mrs. Marker, the housekeeper, had been in there tidying not very
+long before -- about a quarter of an hour, she says."
+
+"Well, that gives us a limit.  Our lady enters this room and
+what does she do?  She goes over to the writing-table.
+What for?  Not for anything in the drawers.  If there had been
+anything worth her taking it would surely have been locked up.
+No; it was for something in that wooden bureau.  Halloa! what
+is that scratch upon the face of it?  Just hold a match, Watson.
+Why did you not tell me of this, Hopkins?"
+
+The mark which he was examining began upon the brass work on
+the right-hand side of the keyhole, and extended for about four
+inches, where it had scratched the varnish from the surface.
+
+"I noticed it, Mr. Holmes.  But you'll always find scratches
+round a keyhole."
+
+"This is recent, quite recent.  See how the brass shines where
+it is cut.  An old scratch would be the same colour as the surface.
+Look at it through my lens.  There's the varnish, too, like earth
+on each side of a furrow.  Is Mrs. Marker there?"
+
+A sad-faced, elderly woman came into the room.
+
+"Did you dust this bureau yesterday morning?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you notice this scratch?"
+
+"No, sir, I did not."
+
+"I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away
+these shreds of varnish.  Who has the key of this bureau?"
+
+"The Professor keeps it on his watch-chain."
+
+"Is it a simple key?"
+
+"No, sir; it is a Chubb's key."
+
+"Very good.  Mrs. Marker, you can go.  Now we are making a
+little progress.  Our lady enters the room, advances to the
+bureau, and either opens it or tries to do so.  While she is
+thus engaged young Willoughby Smith enters the room.  In her
+hurry to withdraw the key she makes this scratch upon the door.
+He seizes her, and she, snatching up the nearest object, which
+happens to be this knife, strikes at him in order to make him
+let go his hold.  The blow is a fatal one.  He falls and she
+escapes, either with or without the object for which she has
+come.  Is Susan the maid there?  Could anyone have got away
+through that door after the time that you heard the cry, Susan?"
+
+"No sir; it is impossible.  Before I got down the stair I'd have
+seen anyone in the passage.  Besides, the door never opened,
+for I would have heard it."
+
+"That settles this exit.  Then no doubt the lady went out the
+way she came.  I understand that this other passage leads only
+to the Professor's room.  There is no exit that way?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"We shall go down it and make the acquaintance of the Professor.
+Halloa, Hopkins! this is very important, very important indeed.
+The Professor's corridor is also lined with cocoanut matting."
+
+"Well, sir, what of that?"
+
+"Don't you see any bearing upon the case?  Well, well, I don't
+insist upon it.  No doubt I am wrong.  And yet it seems to me to
+be suggestive.  Come with me and introduce me."
+
+We passed down the passage, which was of the same length as that
+which led to the garden.  At the end was a short flight of steps
+ending in a door.  Our guide knocked, and then ushered us into
+the Professor's bedroom.
+
+It was a very large chamber, lined with innumerable volumes,
+which had overflowed from the shelves and lay in piles in the
+corners, or were stacked all round at the base of the cases.
+The bed was in the centre of the room, and in it, propped up
+with pillows, was the owner of the house.  I have seldom seen a
+more remarkable-looking person.  It was a gaunt, aquiline face
+which was turned towards us, with piercing dark eyes, which
+lurked in deep hollows under overhung and tufted brows.  His
+hair and beard were white, save that the latter was curiously
+stained with yellow around his mouth.  A cigarette glowed amid
+the tangle of white hair, and the air of the room was fetid
+with stale tobacco-smoke.  As he held out his hand to Holmes
+I perceived that it also was stained yellow with nicotine.
+
+"A smoker, Mr. Holmes?" said he, speaking well-chosen English
+with a curious little mincing accent.  "Pray take a cigarette.
+And you, sir?  I can recommend them, for I have them
+especially prepared by Ionides of Alexandria.  He sends me a
+thousand at a time, and I grieve to say that I have to arrange
+for a fresh supply every fortnight.  Bad, sir, very bad, but an
+old man has few pleasures.  Tobacco and my work -- that is all
+that is left to me."
+
+Holmes had lit a cigarette, and was shooting little darting
+glances all over the room.
+
+"Tobacco and my work, but now only tobacco," the old man exclaimed.
+"Alas! what a fatal interruption!  Who could have foreseen such a
+terrible catastrophe?  So estimable a young man!  I assure you that
+after a few months' training he was an admirable assistant.
+What do you think of the matter, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"I have not yet made up my mind."
+
+"I shall indeed be indebted to you if you can throw a light
+where all is so dark to us.  To a poor bookworm and invalid like
+myself such a blow is paralyzing.  I seem to have lost the
+faculty of thought.  But you are a man of action -- you are a
+man of affairs.  It is part of the everyday routine of your life.
+You can preserve your balance in every emergency.  We are
+fortunate indeed in having you at our side."
+
+Holmes was pacing up and down one side of the room whilst the
+old Professor was talking.  I observed that he was smoking with
+extraordinary rapidity.  It was evident that he shared our
+host's liking for the fresh Alexandrian cigarettes.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is a crushing blow," said the old man.  "That is
+my MAGNUM OPUS -- the pile of papers on the side table yonder.
+It is my analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries
+of Syria and Egypt, a work which will cut deep at the very
+foundations of revealed religion.  With my enfeebled health
+I do not know whether I shall ever be able to complete it now
+that my assistant has been taken from me.  Dear me,  Mr. Holmes;
+why, you are even a quicker smoker than I am myself."
+
+Holmes smiled.
+
+"I am a connoisseur," said he, taking another cigarette from the
+box -- his fourth -- and lighting it from the stub of that which
+he had finished.  "I will not trouble you with any lengthy
+cross-examination, Professor Coram, since I gather that you were
+in bed at the time of the crime and could know nothing about it.
+I would only ask this.  What do you imagine that this poor
+fellow meant by his last words:  `The Professor -- it was she'?"
+
+The Professor shook his head.
+
+"Susan is a country girl," said he, "and you know the incredible
+stupidity of that class.  I fancy that the poor fellow murmured
+some incoherent delirious words, and that she twisted them into
+this meaningless message."
+
+"I see.  You have no explanation yourself of the tragedy?"
+
+"Possibly an accident; possibly -- I only breathe it among
+ourselves -- a suicide.  Young men have their hidden troubles --
+some affair of the heart, perhaps, which we have never known.
+It is a more probable supposition than murder."
+
+"But the eye-glasses?"
+
+"Ah!  I am only a student -- a man of dreams.  I cannot explain
+the practical things of life.  But still, we are aware, my friend,
+that love-gages may take strange shapes.  By all means take
+another cigarette.  It is a pleasure to see anyone appreciate
+them so.  A fan, a glove, glasses -- who knows what article may
+be carried as a token or treasured when a man puts an end to his
+life?  This gentleman speaks of footsteps in the grass; but, after
+all, it is easy to be mistaken on such a point.  As to the knife,
+it might well be thrown far from the unfortunate man as he fell.
+It is possible that I speak as a child, but to me it seems that
+Willoughby Smith has met his fate by his own hand."
+
+Holmes seemed struck by the theory thus put forward, and he
+continued to walk up and down for some time, lost in thought
+and consuming cigarette after cigarette.
+
+"Tell me, Professor Coram," he said, at last, "what is in that
+cupboard in the bureau?"
+
+"Nothing that would help a thief.  Family papers, letters from
+my poor wife, diplomas of Universities which have done me honour.
+Here is the key.  You can look for yourself."
+
+Holmes picked up the key and looked at it for an instant;
+then he handed it back.
+
+"No; I hardly think that it would help me," said he.  "I should
+prefer to go quietly down to your garden and turn the whole
+matter over in my head.  There is something to be said for the
+theory of suicide which you have put forward.  We must apologize
+for having intruded upon you, Professor Coram, and I promise
+that we won't disturb you until after lunch.  At two o'clock
+we will come again and report to you anything which may have
+happened in the interval."
+
+Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the
+garden path for some time in silence.
+
+"Have you a clue?" I asked, at last.
+
+"It depends upon those cigarettes that I smoked," said he.
+"It is possible that I am utterly mistaken.  The cigarettes
+will show me."
+
+"My dear Holmes," I exclaimed, "how on earth ----"
+
+"Well, well, you may see for yourself.  If not, there's no harm
+done.  Of course, we always have the optician clue to fall back
+upon, but I take a short cut when I can get it.  Ah, here is the
+good Mrs. Marker!  Let us enjoy five minutes of instructive
+conversation with her."
+
+I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked,
+a peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily
+established terms of confidence with them.  In half the time
+which he had named he had captured the housekeeper's goodwill,
+and was chatting with her as if he had known her for years.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes, it is as you say, sir.  He does smoke
+something terrible.  All day and sometimes all night, sir.
+I've seen that room of a morning -- well, sir, you'd have thought
+it was a London fog.  Poor young Mr. Smith, he was a smoker also,
+but not as bad as the Professor.  His health -- well, I don't
+know that it's better nor worse for the smoking."
+
+"Ah!" said Holmes, "but it kills the appetite."
+
+"Well, I don't know about that, sir."
+
+"I suppose the Professor eats hardly anything?"
+
+"Well, he is variable.  I'll say that for him."
+
+"I'll wager he took no breakfast this morning, and won't face
+his lunch after all the cigarettes I saw him consume."
+
+"Well, you're out there, sir, as it happens, for he ate a remarkable
+big breakfast this morning.  I don't know when I've known him make
+a better one, and he's ordered a good dish of cutlets for his lunch.
+I'm surprised myself, for since I came into that room yesterday
+and saw young Mr. Smith lying there on the floor I couldn't bear
+to look at food.  Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and the
+Professor hasn't let it take his appetite away."
+
+We loitered the morning away in the garden.  Stanley Hopkins had
+gone down to the village to look into some rumours of a strange
+woman who had been seen by some children on the Chatham Road the
+previous morning.  As to my friend, all his usual energy seemed
+to have deserted him.  I had never known him handle a case in
+such a half-hearted fashion.  Even the news brought back by
+Hopkins that he had found the children and that they had
+undoubtedly seen a woman exactly corresponding with Holmes's
+description, and wearing either spectacles or eye-glasses, failed
+to rouse any sign of keen interest.  He was more attentive when
+Susan, who waited upon us at lunch, volunteered the information
+that she believed Mr. Smith had been out for a walk yesterday
+morning, and that he had only returned half an hour before the
+tragedy occurred.  I could not myself see the bearing of this
+incident, but I clearly perceived that Holmes was weaving it
+into the general scheme which he had formed in his brain.
+Suddenly he sprang from his chair and glanced at his watch.
+"Two o'clock, gentlemen," said he.  "We must go up and have
+it out with our friend the Professor."
+
+The old man had just finished his lunch, and certainly his empty
+dish bore evidence to the good appetite with which his
+housekeeper had credited him.  He was, indeed, a weird figure
+as he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes towards us.
+The eternal cigarette smouldered in his mouth.  He had been
+dressed and was seated in an arm-chair by the fire.
+
+"Well, Mr. Holmes, have you solved this mystery yet?"  He shoved
+the large tin of cigarettes which stood on a table beside him
+towards my companion.  Holmes stretched out his hand at the same
+moment, and between them they tipped the box over the edge.
+For a minute or two we were all on our knees retrieving stray
+cigarettes from impossible places.  When we rose again I observed
+that Holmes's eyes were shining and his cheeks tinged with colour.
+Only at a crisis have I seen those battle-signals flying.
+
+"Yes," said he, "I have solved it."
+
+Stanley Hopkins and I stared in amazement.  Something like a
+sneer quivered over the gaunt features of the old Professor.
+
+"Indeed!  In the garden?"
+
+"No, here."
+
+"Here!  When?"
+
+"This instant."
+
+"You are surely joking, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.  You compel me to tell
+you that this is too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion."
+
+"I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram,
+and I am sure that it is sound.  What your motives are or what
+exact part you play in this strange business I am not yet able to
+say.  In a few minutes I shall probably hear it from your own lips.
+Meanwhile I will reconstruct what is past for your benefit, so that
+you may know the information which I still require.
+
+"A lady yesterday entered your study.  She came with the intention
+of possessing herself of certain documents which were in your
+bureau.  She had a key of her own.  I have had an opportunity
+of examining yours, and I do not find that slight discolouration
+which the scratch made upon the varnish would have produced.
+You were not an accessory, therefore, and she came, so far as
+I can read the evidence, without your knowledge to rob you."
+
+The Professor blew a cloud from his lips.  "This is most
+interesting and instructive," said he.  "Have you no more to add?
+Surely, having traced this lady so far, you can also say what has
+become of her."
+
+"I will endeavour to do so.  In the first place she was
+seized by your secretary, and stabbed him in order to escape.
+This catastrophe I am inclined to regard as an unhappy accident,
+for I am convinced that the lady had no intention of inflicting
+so grievous an injury.  An assassin does not come unarmed.
+Horrified by what she had done she rushed wildly away from the
+scene of the tragedy.  Unfortunately for her she had lost her
+glasses in the scuffle, and as she was extremely short-sighted
+she was really helpless without them.  She ran down a corridor,
+which she imagined to be that by which she had come -- both were
+lined with cocoanut matting -- and it was only when it was too
+late that she understood that she had taken the wrong passage
+and that her retreat was cut off behind her.  What was she to do?
+She could not go back.  She could not remain where she was.
+She must go on.  She went on.  She mounted a stair, pushed open
+a door, and found herself in your room."
+
+The old man sat with his mouth open staring wildly at Holmes.
+Amazement and fear were stamped upon his expressive features.
+Now, with an effort, he shrugged his shoulders and burst into
+insincere laughter.
+
+"All very fine, Mr. Holmes," said he.  "But there is one
+little flaw in your splendid theory.  I was myself in my room,
+and I never left it during the day."
+
+"I am aware of that, Professor Coram."
+
+"And you mean to say that I could lie upon that bed and not
+be aware that a woman had entered my room?"
+
+"I never said so.  You WERE aware of it.  You spoke with her.
+You recognised her.  You aided her to escape."
+
+Again the Professor burst into high-keyed laughter.
+He had risen to his feet and his eyes glowed like embers.
+
+"You are mad!" he cried.  "You are talking insanely.
+I helped her to escape?  Where is she now?"
+
+"She is there," said Holmes, and he pointed to a high bookcase
+in the corner of the room.
+
+I saw the old man throw up his arms, a terrible convulsion
+passed over his grim face, and he fell back in his chair.
+At the same instant the bookcase at which Holmes pointed swung
+round upon a hinge, and a woman rushed out into the room.
+"You are right!" she cried, in a strange foreign voice.
+"You are right!  I am here."
+
+She was brown with the dust and draped with the cobwebs which
+had come from the walls of her hiding-place.  Her face, too,
+was streaked with grime, and at the best she could never have been
+handsome, for she had the exact physical characteristics which
+Holmes had divined, with, in addition, a long and obstinate chin.
+What with her natural blindness, and what with the change from
+dark to light, she stood as one dazed, blinking about her to see
+where and who we were.  And yet, in spite of all these disadvantages,
+there was a certain nobility in the woman's bearing, a gallantry
+in the defiant chin and in the upraised head, which compelled
+something of respect and admiration.  Stanley Hopkins had laid
+his hand upon her arm and claimed her as his prisoner, but she
+waved him aside gently, and yet with an overmastering dignity
+which compelled obedience.  The old man lay back in his chair,
+with a twitching face, and stared at her with brooding eyes.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner," she said.  "From where I stood
+I could hear everything, and I know that you have learned the
+truth.  I confess it all.  It was I who killed the young man.
+But you are right, you who say it was an accident.  I did not
+even know that it was a knife which I held in my hand, for in my
+despair I snatched anything from the table and struck at him to
+make him let me go.  It is the truth that I tell."
+
+"Madam," said Holmes, "I am sure that it is the truth.
+I fear that you are far from well."
+
+She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the
+dark dust-streaks upon her face.  She seated herself on the
+side of the bed; then she resumed.
+
+"I have only a little time here," she said, "but I would have
+you to know the whole truth.  I am this man's wife.  He is not
+an Englishman.  He is a Russian.  His name I will not tell."
+
+For the first time the old man stirred.  "God bless you, Anna!"
+he cried.  "God bless you!"
+
+She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction.
+"Why should you cling so hard to that wretched life of yours,
+Sergius?" said she.  "It has done harm to many and good to
+none -- not even to yourself.  However, it is not for me to
+cause the frail thread to be snapped before God's time.
+I have enough already upon my soul since I crossed the threshold
+of this cursed house.  But I must speak or I shall be too late.
+
+"I have said, gentlemen, that I am this man's wife.  He was
+fifty and I a foolish girl of twenty when we married.  It was
+in a city of Russia, a University -- I will not name the place."
+
+"God bless you, Anna!" murmured the old man again.
+
+"We were reformers -- revolutionists -- Nihilists, you understand.
+He and I and many more.  Then there came a time of trouble,
+a police officer was killed, many were arrested, evidence was
+wanted, and in order to save his own life and to earn a great
+reward my husband betrayed his own wife and his companions.
+Yes, we were all arrested upon his confession.  Some of us found
+our way to the gallows and some to Siberia.  I was among these
+last, but my term was not for life.  My husband came to England
+with his ill-gotten gains, and has lived in quiet ever since,
+knowing well that if the Brotherhood knew where he was not
+a week would pass before justice would be done."
+
+The old man reached out a trembling hand and helped himself
+to a cigarette.  "I am in your hands, Anna," said he.
+"You were always good to me."
+
+"I have not yet told you the height of his villainy," said she.
+"Among our comrades of the Order there was one who was the
+friend of my heart.  He was noble, unselfish, loving -- all that
+my husband was not.  He hated violence.  We were all guilty --
+if that is guilt -- but he was not.  He wrote for ever dissuading
+us from such a course.  These letters would have saved him.
+So would my diary, in which from day to day I had entered both
+my feelings towards him and the view which each of us had taken.
+My husband found and kept both diary and letters.  He hid them,
+and he tried hard to swear away the young man's life.  In this
+he failed, but Alexis was sent a convict to Siberia, where now,
+at this moment, he works in a salt mine.  Think of that, you
+villain, you villain; now, now, at this very moment, Alexis,
+a man whose name you are not worthy to speak, works and lives like
+a slave, and yet I have your life in my hands and I let you go."
+
+"You were always a noble woman, Anna," said the old man, puffing
+at his cigarette.
+
+She had risen, but she fell back again with a little cry of pain.
+
+"I must finish," she said.  "When my term was over I set myself
+to get the diary and letters which, if sent to the Russian
+Government, would procure my friend's release.  I knew that my
+husband had come to England.  After months of searching I
+discovered where he was.  I knew that he still had the diary,
+for when I was in Siberia I had a letter from him once
+reproaching me and quoting some passages from its pages.
+Yet I was sure that with his revengeful nature he would never
+give it to me of his own free will.  I must get it for myself.
+With this object I engaged an agent from a private detective firm,
+who entered my husband's house as secretary -- it was your
+second secretary, Sergius, the one who left you so hurriedly.
+He found that papers were kept in the cupboard, and he got an
+impression of the key.  He would not go farther.  He furnished
+me with a plan of the house, and he told me that in the forenoon
+the study was always empty, as the secretary was employed up here.
+So at last I took my courage in both hands and I came down to
+get the papers for myself.  I succeeded, but at what a cost!
+
+"I had just taken the papers and was locking the cupboard when
+the young man seized me.  I had seen him already that morning.
+He had met me in the road and I had asked him to tell me where
+Professor Coram lived, not knowing that he was in his employ."
+
+"Exactly! exactly!" said Holmes.  "The secretary came back and
+told his employer of the woman he had met.  Then in his last
+breath he tried to send a message that it was she -- the she whom
+he had just discussed with him."
+
+"You must let me speak," said the woman, in an imperative voice,
+and her face contracted as if in pain.  "When he had fallen
+I rushed from the room, chose the wrong door, and found myself
+in my husband's room.  He spoke of giving me up.  I showed him
+that if he did so his life was in my hands.  If he gave me to
+the law I could give him to the Brotherhood.  It was not that
+I wished to live for my own sake, but it was that I desired to
+accomplish my purpose.  He knew that I would do what I said --
+that his own fate was involved in mine.  For that reason
+and for no other he shielded me.  He thrust me into that dark
+hiding-place, a relic of old days, known only to himself.
+He took his meals in his own room, and so was able to give me
+part of his food.  It was agreed that when the police left
+the house I should slip away by night and come back no more.
+But in some way you have read our plans."  She tore from the
+bosom of her dress a small packet.  "These are my last words,"
+said she; "here is the packet which will save Alexis.
+I confide it to your honour and to your love of justice.
+Take it!  You will deliver it at the Russian Embassy.
+Now I have done my duty, and ----"
+
+"Stop her!" cried Holmes.  He had bounded across the room
+and had wrenched a small phial from her hand.
+
+"Too late!" she said, sinking back on the bed.  "Too late!
+I took the poison before I left my hiding-place.  My head swims!
+I am going!  I charge you, sir, to remember the packet."
+
+
+"A simple case, and yet in some ways an instructive one,"
+Holmes remarked, as we travelled back to town.  "It hinged from
+the outset upon the pince-nez.  But for the fortunate chance of
+the dying man having seized these I am not sure that we could
+ever have reached our solution.  It was clear to me from the
+strength of the glasses that the wearer must have been very
+blind and helpless when deprived of them.  When you asked me to
+believe that she walked along a narrow strip of grass without
+once making a false step I remarked, as you may remember, that
+it was a noteworthy performance.  In my mind I set it down as an
+impossible performance, save in the unlikely case that she had a
+second pair of glasses.  I was forced, therefore, to seriously
+consider the hypothesis that she had remained within the house.
+On perceiving the similarity of the two corridors it became
+clear that she might very easily have made such a mistake,
+and in that case it was evident that she must have entered
+the Professor's room.  I was keenly on the alert, therefore,
+for whatever would bear out this supposition, and I examined
+the room narrowly for anything in the shape of a hiding-place.
+The carpet seemed continuous and firmly nailed, so I dismissed
+the idea of a trap-door.  There might well be a recess behind
+the books.  As you are aware, such devices are common in old
+libraries.  I observed that books were piled on the floor at all
+other points, but that one bookcase was left clear.  This, then,
+might be the door.  I could see no marks to guide me, but the
+carpet was of a dun colour, which lends itself very well to
+examination.  I therefore smoked a great number of those
+excellent cigarettes, and I dropped the ash all over the space
+in front of the suspected bookcase.  It was a simple trick, but
+exceedingly effective.  I then went downstairs and I ascertained,
+in your presence, Watson, without your perceiving the drift of my
+remarks, that Professor Coram's consumption of food had increased
+-- as one would expect when he is supplying a second person.
+We then ascended to the room again, when, by upsetting the
+cigarette-box, I obtained a very excellent view of the floor,
+and was able to see quite clearly, from the traces upon the
+cigarette ash, that the prisoner had, in our absence, come out
+from her retreat.  Well, Hopkins, here we are at Charing Cross,
+and I congratulate you on having brought your case to a successful
+conclusion.  You are going to head-quarters, no doubt.  I think,
+Watson, you and I will drive together to the Russian Embassy."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                     Vol. 28  AUGUST, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XI. --- The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter.
+
+
+WE were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker
+Street, but I have a particular recollection of one which reached
+us on a gloomy February morning some seven or eight years ago and
+gave Mr. Sherlock Holmes a puzzled quarter of an hour.  It was
+addressed to him, and ran thus:--
+
+"Please await me.  Terrible misfortune.  Right wing three-quarter
+missing; indispensable to morrow. -- OVERTON."
+
+"Strand post-mark and dispatched ten-thirty-six," said Holmes,
+reading it over and over.  "Mr. Overton was evidently considerably
+excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.
+Well, well, he will be here, I dare say, by the time I have looked
+through the TIMES, and then we shall know all about it.  Even the
+most insignificant problem would be welcome in these stagnant days."
+
+Things had indeed been very slow with us, and I had learned
+to dread such periods of inaction, for I knew by experience
+that my companion's brain was so abnormally active that it was
+dangerous to leave it without material upon which to work.
+For years I had gradually weaned him from that drug mania which
+had threatened once to check his remarkable career.  Now I knew
+that under ordinary conditions he no longer craved for this
+artificial stimulus, but I was well aware that the fiend was
+not dead, but sleeping; and I have known that the sleep was a
+light one and the waking near when in periods of idleness I have
+seen the drawn look upon Holmes's ascetic face, and the brooding
+of his deep-set and inscrutable eyes.  Therefore I blessed this
+Mr. Overton, whoever he might be, since he had come with his
+enigmatic message to break that dangerous calm which brought more
+peril to my friend than all the storms of his tempestuous life.
+
+As we had expected, the telegram was soon followed by its
+sender, and the card of Mr. Cyril Overton, of Trinity College,
+Cambridge, announced the arrival of an enormous young man,
+sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned the doorway
+with his broad shoulders and looked from one of us to the other
+with a comely face which was haggard with anxiety.
+
+"Mr. Sherlock Holmes?"
+
+My companion bowed.
+
+"I've been down to Scotland Yard, Mr. Holmes.
+I saw Inspector Stanley Hopkins.  He advised me to come to you.
+He said the case, so far as he could see, was more in your line
+than in that of the regular police."
+
+"Pray sit down and tell me what is the matter."
+
+"It's awful, Mr. Holmes, simply awful!  I wonder my hair isn't grey.
+Godfrey Staunton -- you've heard of him, of course? He's simply the
+hinge that the whole team turns on.  I'd rather spare two from the
+pack and have Godfrey for my three-quarter line. Whether it's
+passing, or tackling, or dribbling, there's no one to touch him;
+and then, he's got the head and can hold us all together.
+What am I to do?  That's what I ask you, Mr.  Holmes.
+There's Moorhouse, first reserve, but he is trained as a half,
+and he always edges right in on to the scrum instead of keeping
+out on the touch-line.  He's a fine place-kick, it's true, but,
+then, he has no judgment, and he can't sprint for nuts.
+Why, Morton or Johnson, the Oxford fliers, could romp round him.
+Stevenson is fast enough, but he couldn't drop from the twenty-five
+line, and a three-quarter who can't either punt or drop isn't worth
+a place for pace alone.  No, Mr. Holmes, we are done unless you can
+help me to find Godfrey Staunton."
+
+My friend had listened with amused surprise to this long speech,
+which was poured forth with extraordinary vigour and earnestness,
+every point being driven home by the slapping of a brawny hand
+upon the speaker's knee.  When our visitor was silent Holmes
+stretched out his hand and took down letter "S" of his
+commonplace book.  For once he dug in vain into that mine of
+varied information.
+
+"There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger,"
+said he, "and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang,
+but Godfrey Staunton is a new name to me."
+
+It was our visitor's turn to look surprised.
+
+"Why, Mr. Holmes, I thought you knew things," said he.
+"I suppose, then, if you have never heard of Godfrey Staunton
+you don't know Cyril Overton either?"
+
+Holmes shook his head good-humouredly.
+
+"Great Scot!" cried the athlete.  "Why, I was first reserve
+for England against Wales, and I've skippered the 'Varsity all
+this year.  But that's nothing!  I didn't think there was a
+soul in England who didn't know Godfrey Staunton, the crack
+three-quarter, Cambridge, Blackheath, and five Internationals.
+Good Lord!  Mr. Holmes, where HAVE you lived?"
+
+Holmes laughed at the young giant's naive astonishment.
+
+"You live in a different world to me, Mr. Overton, a sweeter
+and healthier one.  My ramifications stretch out into many
+sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur
+sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England.  However,
+your unexpected visit this morning shows me that even in that
+world of fresh air and fair play there may be work for me to do;
+so now, my good sir, I beg you to sit down and to tell me slowly
+and quietly exactly what it is that has occurred, and how you
+desire that I should help you."
+
+Young Overton's face assumed the bothered look of the man who
+is more accustomed to using his muscles than his wits; but by
+degrees, with many repetitions and obscurities which I may omit
+from his narrative, he laid his strange story before us.
+
+
+"It's this way, Mr. Holmes.  As I have said, I am the skipper
+of the Rugger team of Cambridge 'Varsity, and Godfrey Staunton
+is my best man.  To-morrow we play Oxford.  Yesterday we
+all came up and we settled at Bentley's private hotel.  At ten
+o'clock I went round and saw that all the fellows had gone to
+roost, for I believe in strict training and plenty of sleep to
+keep a team fit.  I had a word or two with Godfrey before he
+turned in.  He seemed to me to be pale and bothered.  I asked him
+what was the matter.  He said he was all right -- just a touch
+of headache.  I bade him good-night and left him.  Half an hour
+later the porter tells me that a rough-looking man with a beard
+called with a note for Godfrey.  He had not gone to bed and the
+note was taken to his room.  Godfrey read it and fell back in a
+chair as if he had been pole-axed.  The porter was so scared that
+he was going to fetch me, but Godfrey stopped him, had a drink of
+water, and pulled himself together.  Then he went downstairs,
+said a few words to the man who was waiting in the hall, and the
+two of them went off together.  The last that the porter saw of
+them, they were almost running down the street in the direction
+of the Strand.  This morning Godfrey's room was empty, his bed
+had never been slept in, and his things were all just as I had
+seen them the night before.  He had gone off at a moment's notice
+with this stranger, and no word has come from him since.  I don't
+believe he will ever come back.  He was a sportsman, was Godfrey,
+down to his marrow, and he wouldn't have stopped his training and
+let in his skipper if it were not for some cause that was too
+strong for him.  No; I feel as if he were gone for good and we
+should never see him again."
+
+
+Sherlock Holmes listened with the deepest attention to this
+singular narrative.
+
+"What did you do?" he asked.
+
+"I wired to Cambridge to learn if anything had been heard
+of him there.  I have had an answer.  No one has seen him."
+
+"Could he have got back to Cambridge?"
+
+"Yes, there is a late train -- quarter-past eleven."
+
+"But so far as you can ascertain he did not take it?"
+
+"No, he has not been seen."
+
+"What did you do next?"
+
+"I wired to Lord Mount-James."
+
+"Why to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Godfrey is an orphan, and Lord Mount-James is his nearest
+relative -- his uncle, I believe."
+
+"Indeed.  This throws new light upon the matter.
+Lord Mount-James is one of the richest men in England."
+
+"So I've heard Godfrey say."
+
+"And your friend was closely related?"
+
+"Yes, he was his heir, and the old boy is nearly eighty --
+cram full of gout, too.  They say he could chalk his billiard-cue
+with his knuckles.  He never allowed Godfrey a shilling in his
+life, for he is an absolute miser, but it will all come to him
+right enough."
+
+"Have you heard from Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"No."
+
+"What motive could your friend have in going to Lord Mount-James?"
+
+"Well, something was worrying him the night before, and if
+it was to do with money it is possible that he would make for his
+nearest relative who had so much of it, though from all I have
+heard he would not have much chance of getting it.  Godfrey was
+not fond of the old man.  He would not go if he could help it."
+
+"Well, we can soon determine that.  If your friend was going
+to his relative, Lord Mount-James, you have then to explain
+the visit of this rough-looking fellow at so late an hour,
+and the agitation that was caused by his coming."
+
+Cyril Overton pressed his hands to his head.  "I can make
+nothing of it," said he.
+
+"Well, well, I have a clear day, and I shall be happy to look
+into the matter," said Holmes.  "I should strongly recommend
+you to make your preparations for your match without reference
+to this young gentleman.  It must, as you say, have been an
+overpowering necessity which tore him away in such a fashion,
+and the same necessity is likely to hold him away.  Let us step
+round together to this hotel, and see if the porter can throw
+any fresh light upon the matter."
+
+Sherlock Holmes was a past-master in the art of putting a
+humble witness at his ease, and very soon, in the privacy of
+Godfrey Staunton's abandoned room, he had extracted all that
+the porter had to tell.  The visitor of the night before was not
+a gentleman, neither was he a working man.  He was simply what
+the porter described as a "medium-looking chap"; a man of fifty,
+beard grizzled, pale face, quietly dressed.  He seemed himself
+to be agitated.  The porter had observed his hand trembling when
+he had held out the note.  Godfrey Staunton had crammed the note
+into his pocket.  Staunton had not shaken hands with the man in
+the hall.  They had exchanged a few sentences, of which the
+porter had only distinguished the one word "time."  Then they
+had hurried off in the manner described.  It was just half-past
+ten by the hall clock.
+
+"Let me see," said Holmes, seating himself on Staunton's bed.
+"You are the day porter, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I go off duty at eleven."
+
+"The night porter saw nothing, I suppose?"
+
+"No, sir; one theatre party came in late.  No one else."
+
+"Were you on duty all day yesterday?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Did you take any messages to Mr. Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, sir; one telegram."
+
+"Ah! that's interesting.  What o'clock was this?"
+
+"About six."
+
+"Where was Mr. Staunton when he received it?"
+
+"Here in his room."
+
+"Were you present when he opened it?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I waited to see if there was an answer."
+
+"Well, was there?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  He wrote an answer."
+
+"Did you take it?"
+
+"No; he took it himself."
+
+"But he wrote it in your presence?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  I was standing by the door, and he with his
+back turned at that table.  When he had written it he said,
+`All right, porter, I will take this myself.'"
+
+"What did he write it with?"
+
+"A pen, sir."
+
+"Was the telegraphic form one of these on the table?"
+
+"Yes, sir; it was the top one."
+
+Holmes rose.  Taking the forms he carried them over to the
+window and carefully examined that which was uppermost.
+
+"It is a pity he did not write in pencil," said he, throwing
+them down again with a shrug of disappointment.  "As you have no
+doubt frequently observed, Watson, the impression usually goes
+through -- a fact which has dissolved many a happy marriage.
+However, I can find no trace here.  I rejoice, however,
+to perceive that he wrote with a broad-pointed quill pen,
+and I can hardly doubt that we will find some impression upon
+this blotting-pad.  Ah, yes, surely this is the very thing!"
+
+He tore off a strip of the blotting-paper and turned towards
+us the following hieroglyphic:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+Cyril Overton was much excited.  "Hold it to the glass!" he cried.
+
+"That is unnecessary," said Holmes.  "The paper is thin,
+and the reverse will give the message.  Here it is."
+He turned it over and we read:--
+
+GRAPHIC
+
+"So that is the tail end of the telegram which Godfrey Staunton
+dispatched within a few hours of his disappearance.
+There are at least six words of the message which have escaped us;
+but what remains -- `Stand by us for God's sake!' -- proves that
+this young man saw a formidable danger which approached him,
+and from which someone else could protect him.  `US,' mark you!
+Another person was involved.  Who should it be but the pale-faced,
+bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state?
+What, then, is the connection between Godfrey Staunton and the
+bearded man?  And what is the third source from which each of
+them sought for help against pressing danger?  Our inquiry has
+already narrowed down to that."
+
+"We have only to find to whom that telegram is addressed,"
+I suggested.
+
+"Exactly, my dear Watson.  Your reflection, though profound,
+had already crossed my mind.  But I dare say it may have come to
+your notice that if you walk into a post-office and demand to
+see the counterfoil of another man's message there may be some
+disinclination on the part of the officials to oblige you.  There
+is so much red tape in these matters!  However, I have no doubt
+that with a little delicacy and finesse the end may be attained.
+Meanwhile, I should like in your presence, Mr. Overton, to go
+through these papers which have been left upon the table."
+
+There were a number of letters, bills, and note-books, which
+Holmes turned over and examined with quick, nervous fingers and
+darting, penetrating eyes.  "Nothing here," he said, at last.
+"By the way, I suppose your friend was a healthy young fellow --
+nothing amiss with him?"
+
+"Sound as a bell."
+
+"Have you ever known him ill?"
+
+"Not a day.  He has been laid up with a hack, and once he
+slipped his knee-cap, but that was nothing."
+
+"Perhaps he was not so strong as you suppose.  I should think
+he may have had some secret trouble.  With your assent I will
+put one or two of these papers in my pocket, in case they
+should bear upon our future inquiry."
+
+"One moment! one moment!" cried a querulous voice, and we
+looked up to find a queer little old man, jerking and twitching
+in the doorway.  He was dressed in rusty black, with a very
+broad brimmed top-hat and a loose white necktie -- the whole
+effect being that of a very rustic parson or of an undertaker's
+mute.  Yet, in spite of his shabby and even absurd appearance,
+his voice had a sharp crackle, and his manner a quick intensity
+which commanded attention.
+
+"Who are you, sir, and by what right do you touch this
+gentleman's papers?" he asked.
+
+"I am a private detective, and I am endeavouring to explain
+his disappearance."
+
+"Oh, you are, are you?  And who instructed you, eh?"
+
+"This gentleman, Mr. Staunton's friend, was referred to me
+by Scotland Yard."
+
+"Who are you, sir?"
+
+"I am Cyril Overton."
+
+"Then it is you who sent me a telegram.  My name is Lord Mount-James.
+I came round as quickly as the Bayswater 'bus would bring me.
+So you have instructed a detective?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And are you prepared to meet the cost?"
+
+"I have no doubt, sir, that my friend Godfrey, when we find him,
+will be prepared to do that."
+
+"But if he is never found, eh?  Answer me that!"
+
+"In that case no doubt his family ----"
+
+"Nothing of the sort, sir!" screamed the little man.
+"Don't look to me for a penny -- not a penny!  You understand that,
+Mr. Detective!  I am all the family that this young man has got,
+and I tell you that I am not responsible.  If he has any expectations
+it is due to the fact that I have never wasted money, and I do
+not propose to begin to do so now.  As to those papers with which
+you are making so free, I may tell you that in case there should
+be anything of any value among them you will be held strictly
+to account for what you do with them."
+
+"Very good, sir," said Sherlock Holmes.  "May I ask in the
+meanwhile whether you have yourself any theory to account for
+this young man's disappearance?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not.  He is big enough and old enough to look
+after himself, and if he is so foolish as to lose himself I
+entirely refuse to accept the responsibility of hunting for him."
+
+"I quite understand your position," said Holmes, with a
+mischievous twinkle in his eyes.  "Perhaps you don't quite
+understand mine.  Godfrey Staunton appears to have been a poor
+man.  If he has been kidnapped it could not have been for
+anything which he himself possesses.  The fame of your wealth has
+gone abroad, Lord Mount-James, and it is entirely possible that a
+gang of thieves have secured your nephew in order to gain from him
+some information as to your house, your habits, and your treasure."
+
+The face of our unpleasant little visitor turned as white as
+his neckcloth.
+
+"Heavens, sir, what an idea!  I never thought of such villainy!
+What inhuman rogues there are in the world!  But Godfrey is a
+fine lad -- a staunch lad.  Nothing would induce him to give
+his old uncle away.  I'll have the plate moved over to the bank
+this evening.  In the meantime spare no pains, Mr. Detective!
+I beg you to leave no stone unturned to bring him safely back.
+As to money, well, so far as a fiver, or even a tenner, goes,
+you can always look to me."
+
+Even in his chastened frame of mind the noble miser could give
+us no information which could help us, for he knew little of
+the private life of his nephew.  Our only clue lay in the
+truncated telegram, and with a copy of this in his hand Holmes
+set forth to find a second link for his chain.  We had shaken off
+Lord Mount-James, and Overton had gone to consult with the other
+members of his team over the misfortune which had befallen them.
+
+There was a telegraph-office at a short distance from the hotel.
+We halted outside it.
+
+"It's worth trying, Watson," said Holmes.  "Of course, with
+a warrant we could demand to see the counterfoils, but we have
+not reached that stage yet.  I don't suppose they remember faces
+in so busy a place.  Let us venture it."
+
+"I am sorry to trouble you," said he, in his blandest manner,
+to the young woman behind the grating; "there is some small
+mistake about a telegram I sent yesterday.  I have had no answer,
+and I very much fear that I must have omitted to put my name
+at the end.  Could you tell me if this was so?"
+
+The young woman turned over a sheaf of counterfoils.
+
+"What o'clock was it?" she asked.
+
+"A little after six."
+
+"Whom was it to?"
+
+Holmes put his finger to his lips and glanced at me.
+"The last words in it were `for God's sake,'" he whispered,
+confidentially; "I am very anxious at getting no answer."
+
+The young woman separated one of the forms.
+
+"This is it.  There is no name," said she, smoothing it out
+upon the counter.
+
+"Then that, of course, accounts for my getting no answer,"
+said Holmes.  "Dear me, how very stupid of me, to be sure!
+Good morning, miss, and many thanks for having relieved my mind."
+He chuckled and rubbed his hands when we found ourselves in the
+street once more.
+
+"Well?" I asked.
+
+"We progress, my dear Watson, we progress.  I had seven
+different schemes for getting a glimpse of that telegram,
+but I could hardly hope to succeed the very first time."
+
+"And what have you gained?"
+
+"A starting-point for our investigation."  He hailed a cab.
+"King's Cross Station," said he.
+
+"We have a journey, then?"
+
+"Yes; I think we must run down to Cambridge together.
+All the indications seem to me to point in that direction."
+
+"Tell me," I asked, as we rattled up Gray's Inn Road,
+"have you any suspicion yet as to the cause of the disappearance?
+I don't think that among all our cases I have known one where the
+motives are more obscure.  Surely you don't really imagine that
+he may be kidnapped in order to give information against his
+wealthy uncle?"
+
+"I confess, my dear Watson, that that does not appeal to
+me as a very probable explanation.  It struck me, however,
+as being the one which was most likely to interest that
+exceedingly unpleasant old person."
+
+"It certainly did that.  But what are your alternatives?"
+
+"I could mention several.  You must admit that it is curious
+and suggestive that this incident should occur on the eve of this
+important match, and should involve the only man whose presence
+seems essential to the success of the side.  It may, of course,
+be coincidence, but it is interesting.  Amateur sport is free
+from betting, but a good deal of outside betting goes on among
+the public, and it is possible that it might be worth someone's
+while to get at a player as the ruffians of the turf get at a
+race-horse.  There is one explanation.  A second very obvious one
+is that this young man really is the heir of a great property,
+however modest his means may at present be, and it is not
+impossible that a plot to hold him for ransom might be concocted."
+
+"These theories take no account of the telegram."
+
+"Quite true, Watson.  The telegram still remains the only
+solid thing with which we have to deal, and we must not permit
+our attention to wander away from it.  It is to gain light upon
+the purpose of this telegram that we are now upon our way to
+Cambridge.  The path of our investigation is at present obscure,
+but I shall be very much surprised if before evening we have not
+cleared it up or made a considerable advance along it."
+
+It was already dark when we reached the old University city.
+Holmes took a cab at the station, and ordered the man to drive to
+the house of Dr. Leslie Armstrong.  A few minutes later we had
+stopped at a large mansion in the busiest thoroughfare.  We were
+shown in, and after a long wait were at last admitted into the
+consulting-room, where we found the doctor seated behind his table.
+
+It argues the degree in which I had lost touch with my
+profession that the name of Leslie Armstrong was unknown to me.
+Now I am aware that he is not only one of the heads of the
+medical school of the University, but a thinker of European
+reputation in more than one branch of science.  Yet even without
+knowing his brilliant record one could not fail to be impressed
+by a mere glance at the man, the square, massive face, the
+brooding eyes under the thatched brows, and the granite moulding
+of the inflexible jaw.  A man of deep character, a man with an
+alert mind, grim, ascetic, self-contained, formidable -- so I read
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong.  He held my friend's card in his hand, and
+he looked up with no very pleased expression upon his dour features.
+
+"I have heard your name, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and I am aware
+of your profession, one of which I by no means approve."
+
+"In that, doctor, you will find yourself in agreement with
+every criminal in the country," said my friend, quietly.
+
+"So far as your efforts are directed towards the suppression
+of crime, sir, they must have the support of every reasonable
+member of the community, though I cannot doubt that the official
+machinery is amply sufficient for the purpose.  Where your
+calling is more open to criticism is when you pry into the
+secrets of private individuals, when you rake up family matters
+which are better hidden, and when you incidentally waste the time
+of men who are more busy than yourself.  At the present moment,
+for example, I should be writing a treatise instead of conversing
+with you."
+
+"No doubt, doctor; and yet the conversation may prove more
+important than the treatise.  Incidentally I may tell you that
+we are doing the reverse of what you very justly blame, and that
+we are endeavouring to prevent anything like public exposure of
+private matters which must necessarily follow when once the case
+is fairly in the hands of the official police.  You may look
+upon me simply as an irregular pioneer who goes in front of the
+regular forces of the country.  I have come to ask you about
+Mr. Godfrey Staunton."
+
+"What about him?"
+
+"You know him, do you not?"
+
+"He is an intimate friend of mine."
+
+"You are aware that he has disappeared?"
+
+"Ah, indeed!"  There was no change of expression in the
+rugged features of the doctor.
+
+"He left his hotel last night.  He has not been heard of."
+
+"No doubt he will return."
+
+"To-morrow is the 'Varsity football match."
+
+"I have no sympathy with these childish games.  The young
+man's fate interests me deeply, since I know him and like him.
+The football match does not come within my horizon at all."
+
+"I claim your sympathy, then, in my investigation of Mr.
+Staunton's fate.  Do you know where he is?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"You have not seen him since yesterday?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"Was Mr. Staunton a healthy man?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Did you ever know him ill?"
+
+"Never."
+
+Holmes popped a sheet of paper before the doctor's eyes.
+"Then perhaps you will explain this receipted bill for thirteen
+guineas, paid by Mr. Godfrey Staunton last month to Dr. Leslie
+Armstrong of Cambridge.  I picked it out from among the papers
+upon his desk."
+
+The doctor flushed with anger.
+
+"I do not feel that there is any reason why I should render
+an explanation to you, Mr. Holmes."
+
+Holmes replaced the bill in his note-book.  "If you prefer
+a public explanation it must come sooner or later," said he.
+"I have already told you that I can hush up that which others
+will be bound to publish, and you would really be wiser to
+take me into your complete confidence."
+
+"I know nothing about it."
+
+"Did you hear from Mr. Staunton in London?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Dear me, dear me; the post-office again!" Holmes sighed,
+wearily.  "A most urgent telegram was dispatched to you from
+London by Godfrey Staunton at six-fifteen yesterday evening --
+a telegram which is undoubtedly associated with his disappearance
+-- and yet you have not had it.  It is most culpable.  I shall
+certainly go down to the office here and register a complaint."
+
+Dr. Leslie Armstrong sprang up from behind his desk, and his
+dark face was crimson with fury.
+
+"I'll trouble you to walk out of my house, sir," said he.
+"You can tell your employer, Lord Mount-James, that I do not
+wish to have anything to do either with him or with his agents.
+No, sir, not another word!"  He rang the bell furiously.
+"John, show these gentlemen out!"  A pompous butler ushered
+us severely to the door, and we found ourselves in the street.
+Holmes burst out laughing.
+
+"Dr. Leslie Armstrong is certainly a man of energy and
+character," said he.  "I have not seen a man who, if he turned
+his talents that way, was more calculated to fill the gap left by
+the illustrious Moriarty.  And now, my poor Watson, here we are,
+stranded and friendless in this inhospitable town, which we
+cannot leave without abandoning our case.  This little inn just
+opposite Armstrong's house is singularly adapted to our needs.
+If you would engage a front room and purchase the necessaries
+for the night, I may have time to make a few inquiries."
+
+These few inquiries proved, however, to be a more lengthy
+proceeding than Holmes had imagined, for he did not return to
+the inn until nearly nine o'clock.  He was pale and dejected,
+stained with dust, and exhausted with hunger and fatigue.
+A cold supper was ready upon the table, and when his needs were
+satisfied and his pipe alight he was ready to take that half comic
+and wholly philosophic view which was natural to him when his
+affairs were going awry.  The sound of carriage wheels caused him
+to rise and glance out of the window.  A brougham and pair of greys
+under the glare of a gas-lamp stood before the doctor's door.
+
+"It's been out three hours," said Holmes; "started at half-past
+six, and here it is back again.  That gives a radius of ten or
+twelve miles, and he does it once, or sometimes twice, a day."
+
+"No unusual thing for a doctor in practice."
+
+"But Armstrong is not really a doctor in practice.  He is a
+lecturer and a consultant, but he does not care for general
+practice, which distracts him from his literary work.
+Why, then, does he make these long journeys, which must be
+exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?"
+
+"His coachman ----"
+
+"My dear Watson, can you doubt that it was to him that I
+first applied?  I do not know whether it came from his own innate
+depravity or from the promptings of his master, but he was rude
+enough to set a dog at me.  Neither dog nor man liked the look of
+my stick, however, and the matter fell through.  Relations were
+strained after that, and further inquiries out of the question.
+All that I have learned I got from a friendly native in the yard
+of our own inn.  It was he who told me of the doctor's habits and
+of his daily journey.  At that instant, to give point to his
+words, the carriage came round to the door."
+
+"Could you not follow it?"
+
+"Excellent, Watson!  You are scintillating this evening.
+The idea did cross my mind.  There is, as you may have observed,
+a bicycle shop next to our inn.  Into this I rushed, engaged a
+bicycle, and was able to get started before the carriage was
+quite out of sight.  I rapidly overtook it, and then, keeping at
+a discreet distance of a hundred yards or so, I followed its
+lights until we were clear of the town.  We had got well out on
+the country road when a somewhat mortifying incident occurred.
+The carriage stopped, the doctor alighted, walked swiftly back to
+where I had also halted, and told me in an excellent sardonic
+fashion that he feared the road was narrow, and that he hoped his
+carriage did not impede the passage of my bicycle.  Nothing could
+have been more admirable than his way of putting it.  I at once
+rode past the carriage, and, keeping to the main road, I went on
+for a few miles, and then halted in a convenient place to see if
+the carriage passed.  There was no sign of it, however, and so it
+became evident that it had turned down one of several side roads
+which I had observed.  I rode back, but again saw nothing of the
+carriage, and now, as you perceive, it has returned after me.
+Of course, I had at the outset no particular reason to connect
+these journeys with the disappearance of Godfrey Staunton,
+and was only inclined to investigate them on the general grounds
+that everything which concerns Dr. Armstrong is at present of
+interest to us; but, now that I find he keeps so keen a look-out
+upon anyone who may follow him on these excursions, the affair
+appears more important, and I shall not be satisfied until
+I have made the matter clear."
+
+"We can follow him to-morrow."
+
+"Can we?  It is not so easy as you seem to think.  You are
+not familiar with Cambridgeshire scenery, are you?  It does not
+lend itself to concealment.  All this country that I passed over
+to-night is as flat and clean as the palm of your hand, and the
+man we are following is no fool, as he very clearly showed
+to-night.  I have wired to Overton to let us know any fresh
+London developments at this address, and in the meantime we can
+only concentrate our attention upon Dr. Armstrong, whose name
+the obliging young lady at the office allowed me to read upon
+the counterfoil of Staunton's urgent message.  He knows where
+the young man is -- to that I'll swear -- and if he knows,
+then it must be our own fault if we cannot manage to know also.
+At present it must be admitted that the odd trick is in his
+possession, and, as you are aware, Watson, it is not my habit
+to leave the game in that condition."
+
+And yet the next day brought us no nearer to the solution of
+the mystery.  A note was handed in after breakfast, which Holmes
+passed across to me with a smile.
+
+"Sir," it ran, "I can assure you that you are wasting your time
+in dogging my movements.  I have, as you discovered last night,
+a window at the back of my brougham, and if you desire a
+twenty-mile ride which will lead you to the spot from which you
+started, you have only to follow me.  Meanwhile, I can inform you
+that no spying upon me can in any way help Mr. Godfrey Staunton,
+and I am convinced that the best service you can do to that
+gentleman is to return at once to London and to report to your
+employer that you are unable to trace him.  Your time in
+Cambridge will certainly be wasted.
+                    "Yours faithfully,
+                         "LESLIE ARMSTRONG."
+
+"An outspoken, honest antagonist is the doctor," said Holmes.
+"Well, well, he excites my curiosity, and I must really know
+more before I leave him."
+
+"His carriage is at his door now," said I.  "There he is stepping
+into it.  I saw him glance up at our window as he did so.
+Suppose I try my luck upon the bicycle?"
+
+"No, no, my dear Watson!  With all respect for your natural
+acumen I do not think that you are quite a match for the worthy
+doctor.  I think that possibly I can attain our end by some
+independent explorations of my own.  I am afraid that I must
+leave you to your own devices, as the appearance of TWO inquiring
+strangers upon a sleepy countryside might excite more gossip than
+I care for.  No doubt you will find some sights to amuse you in
+this venerable city, and I hope to bring back a more favourable
+report to you before evening."
+
+Once more, however, my friend was destined to be disappointed.
+He came back at night weary and unsuccessful.
+
+"I have had a blank day, Watson.  Having got the doctor's
+general direction, I spent the day in visiting all the villages
+upon that side of Cambridge, and comparing notes with publicans
+and other local news agencies.  I have covered some ground:
+Chesterton, Histon, Waterbeach, and Oakington have each been
+explored and have each proved disappointing.  The daily
+appearance of a brougham and pair could hardly have been
+overlooked in such Sleepy Hollows.  The doctor has scored once
+more.  Is there a telegram for me?"
+
+"Yes; I opened it.  Here it is: `Ask for Pompey from Jeremy
+Dixon, Trinity College.'  I don't understand it."
+
+"Oh, it is clear enough.  It is from our friend Overton,
+and is in answer to a question from me.  I'll just send round
+a note to Mr. Jeremy Dixon, and then I have no doubt that our
+luck will turn.  By the way, is there any news of the match?"
+
+"Yes, the local evening paper has an excellent account in its
+last edition.  Oxford won by a goal and two tries.  The last
+sentences of the description say:  `The defeat of the Light Blues
+may be entirely attributed to the unfortunate absence of the crack
+International, Godfrey Staunton, whose want was felt at every
+instant of the game.  The lack of combination in the three-quarter
+line and their weakness both in attack and defence more than
+neutralized the efforts of a heavy and hard-working pack.'"
+
+"Then our friend Overton's forebodings have been justified,"
+said Holmes.  "Personally I am in agreement with Dr. Armstrong,
+and football does not come within my horizon.  Early to bed to-night,
+Watson, for I foresee that to-morrow may be an eventful day."
+
+
+I was horrified by my first glimpse of Holmes next morning,
+for he sat by the fire holding his tiny hypodermic syringe.
+I associated that instrument with the single weakness of his
+nature, and I feared the worst when I saw it glittering in his
+hand.  He laughed at my expression of dismay, and laid it upon
+the table.
+
+"No, no, my dear fellow, there is no cause for alarm.  It is
+not upon this occasion the instrument of evil, but it will rather
+prove to be the key which will unlock our mystery.  On this
+syringe I base all my hopes.  I have just returned from a small
+scouting expedition and everything is favourable.  Eat a good
+breakfast, Watson, for I propose to get upon Dr. Armstrong's
+trail to-day, and once on it I will not stop for rest or food
+until I run him to his burrow."
+
+"In that case," said I, "we had best carry our breakfast with us,
+for he is making an early start.  His carriage is at the door."
+
+"Never mind.  Let him go.  He will be clever if he can drive
+where I cannot follow him.  When you have finished come
+downstairs with me, and I will introduce you to a detective who
+is a very eminent specialist in the work that lies before us."
+
+When we descended I followed Holmes into the stable yard, where
+he opened the door of a loose-box and led out a squat, lop-eared,
+white-and-tan dog, something between a beagle and a foxhound.
+
+"Let me introduce you to Pompey," said he.  "Pompey is the
+pride of the local draghounds, no very great flier, as his build
+will show, but a staunch hound on a scent.  Well, Pompey, you may
+not be fast, but I expect you will be too fast for a couple of
+middle-aged London gentlemen, so I will take the liberty of
+fastening this leather leash to your collar.  Now, boy, come
+along, and show what you can do."  He led him across to the
+doctor's door.  The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then
+with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street,
+tugging at his leash in his efforts to go faster.  In half an hour,
+we were clear of the town and hastening down a country road.
+
+"What have you done, Holmes?" I asked.
+
+"A threadbare and venerable device, but useful upon occasion.
+I walked into the doctor's yard this morning and shot my
+syringe full of aniseed over the hind wheel.  A draghound will
+follow aniseed from here to John o' Groat's, and our friend
+Armstrong would have to drive through the Cam before he would
+shake Pompey off his trail.  Oh, the cunning rascal!
+This is how he gave me the slip the other night."
+
+The dog had suddenly turned out of the main road into a
+grass-grown lane.  Half a mile farther this opened into another
+broad road, and the trail turned hard to the right in the
+direction of the town, which we had just quitted.  The road took
+a sweep to the south of the town and continued in the opposite
+direction to that in which we started.
+
+"This DETOUR has been entirely for our benefit, then?" said
+Holmes.  "No wonder that my inquiries among those villages led
+to nothing.  The doctor has certainly played the game for all
+it is worth, and one would like to know the reason for such
+elaborate deception.  This should be the village of Trumpington
+to the right of us.  And, by Jove! here is the brougham coming
+round the corner.  Quick, Watson, quick, or we are done!"
+
+He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the
+reluctant Pompey after him.  We had hardly got under the shelter
+of the hedge when the carriage rattled past.  I caught a glimpse
+of Dr. Armstrong within, his shoulders bowed, his head sunk on
+his hands, the very image of distress.  I could tell by my
+companion's graver face that he also had seen.
+
+"I fear there is some dark ending to our quest," said he.
+"It cannot be long before we know it.  Come, Pompey!
+Ah, it is the cottage in the field!"
+
+There could be no doubt that we had reached the end of our
+journey.  Pompey ran about and whined eagerly outside the gate
+where the marks of the brougham's wheels were still to be seen.
+A footpath led across to the lonely cottage.  Holmes tied the dog
+to the hedge, and we hastened onwards.  My friend knocked at the
+little rustic door, and knocked again without response.  And yet
+the cottage was not deserted, for a low sound came to our ears --
+a kind of drone of misery and despair, which was indescribably
+melancholy.  Holmes paused irresolute, and then he glanced back
+at the road which we had just traversed.  A brougham was coming
+down it, and there could be no mistaking those grey horses.
+
+"By Jove, the doctor is coming back!" cried Holmes.  "That
+settles it.  We are bound to see what it means before he comes."
+
+He opened the door and we stepped into the hall.  The droning
+sound swelled louder upon our ears until it became one long,
+deep wail of distress.  It came from upstairs.  Holmes darted
+up and I followed him.  He pushed open a half-closed door
+and we both stood appalled at the sight before us.
+
+A woman, young and beautiful, was lying dead upon the bed.
+Her calm, pale face, with dim, wide-opened blue eyes, looked
+upward from amid a great tangle of golden hair.  At the foot of
+the bed, half sitting, half kneeling, his face buried in the
+clothes, was a young man, whose frame was racked by his sobs.
+So absorbed was he by his bitter grief that he never looked
+up until Holmes's hand was on his shoulder.
+
+"Are you Mr. Godfrey Staunton?"
+
+"Yes, yes; I am -- but you are too late.  She is dead."
+
+The man was so dazed that he could not be made to understand
+that we were anything but doctors who had been sent to his
+assistance.  Holmes was endeavouring to utter a few words of
+consolation, and to explain the alarm which had been caused to
+his friends by his sudden disappearance, when there was a step
+upon the stairs, and there was the heavy, stern, questioning
+face of Dr. Armstrong at the door.
+
+"So, gentlemen," said he, "you have attained your end, and
+have certainly chosen a particularly delicate moment for your
+intrusion.  I would not brawl in the presence of death, but I can
+assure you that if I were a younger man your monstrous conduct
+would not pass with impunity."
+
+"Excuse me, Dr. Armstrong, I think we are a little at
+cross-purposes," said my friend, with dignity.  "If you could
+step downstairs with us we may each be able to give some light
+to the other upon this miserable affair."
+
+A minute later the grim doctor and ourselves were in the
+sitting-room below.
+
+"Well, sir?" said he.
+
+"I wish you to understand, in the first place, that I am not
+employed by Lord Mount-James, and that my sympathies in this
+matter are entirely against that nobleman.  When a man is lost it
+is my duty to ascertain his fate, but having done so the matter
+ends so far as I am concerned; and so long as there is nothing
+criminal, I am much more anxious to hush up private scandals than
+to give them publicity.  If, as I imagine, there is no breach of
+the law in this matter, you can absolutely depend upon my discretion
+and my co-operation in keeping the facts out of the papers."
+
+Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.
+
+"You are a good fellow," said he.  "I had misjudged you.
+I thank Heaven that my compunction at leaving poor Staunton
+all alone in this plight caused me to turn my carriage back,
+and so to make your acquaintance.  Knowing as much as you do,
+the situation is very easily explained.  A year ago Godfrey Staunton
+lodged in London for a time, and became passionately attached to
+his landlady's daughter, whom he married.  She was as good as she
+was beautiful, and as intelligent as she was good.  No man need
+be ashamed of such a wife.  But Godfrey was the heir to this
+crabbed old nobleman, and it was quite certain that the news of
+his marriage would have been the end of his inheritance.  I knew
+the lad well, and I loved him for his many excellent qualities.
+I did all I could to help him to keep things straight.  We did
+our very best to keep the thing from everyone, for when once such
+a whisper gets about it is not long before everyone has heard it.
+Thanks to this lonely cottage and his own discretion, Godfrey has
+up to now succeeded.  Their secret was known to no one save to me
+and to one excellent servant who has at present gone for
+assistance to Trumpington.  But at last there came a terrible
+blow in the shape of dangerous illness to his wife.  It was
+consumption of the most virulent kind.  The poor boy was half
+crazed with grief, and yet he had to go to London to play this
+match, for he could not get out of it without explanations which
+would expose his secret.  I tried to cheer him up by a wire, and
+he sent me one in reply imploring me to do all I could.  This was
+the telegram which you appear in some inexplicable way to have
+seen.  I did not tell him how urgent the danger was, for I knew
+that he could do no good here, but I sent the truth to the girl's
+father, and he very injudiciously communicated it to Godfrey.
+The result was that he came straight away in a state bordering on
+frenzy, and has remained in the same state, kneeling at the end
+of her bed, until this morning death put an end to her sufferings.
+That is all, Mr. Holmes, and I am sure that I can rely upon your
+discretion and that of your friend."
+
+Holmes grasped the doctor's hand.
+
+"Come, Watson," said he, and we passed from that house of grief
+into the pale sunlight of the winter day.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  SEPTEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XII.  --- The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.
+
+
+It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter
+of '97 that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder.  It was
+Holmes.  The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping
+face and told me at a glance that something was amiss.
+
+"Come, Watson, come!" he cried.  "The game is afoot.  Not a word!
+Into your clothes and come!"
+
+Ten minutes later we were both in a cab and rattling through the
+silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station.  The first
+faint winter's dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly
+see the occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us,
+blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek.  Holmes
+nestled in silence into his heavy coat, and I was glad to do the
+same, for the air was most bitter and neither of us had broken
+our fast.  It was not until we had consumed some hot tea at the
+station, and taken our places in the Kentish train, that we were
+sufficiently thawed, he to speak and I to listen.  Holmes drew a
+note from his pocket and read it aloud:--
+
+      "Abbey Grange, Marsham, Kent,
+                         "3.30 a.m.
+"MY DEAR MR. HOLMES, --- I should be very glad of your immediate
+assistance in what promises to be a most remarkable case.
+It is something quite in your line.  Except for releasing the lady
+I will see that everything is kept exactly as I have found it,
+but I beg you not to lose an instant, as it is difficult to leave
+Sir Eustace there.
+      "Yours faithfully, STANLEY HOPKINS."
+
+"Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion
+his summons has been entirely justified," said Holmes.
+"I fancy that every one of his cases has found its way into your
+collection, and I must admit, Watson, that you have some power
+of selection which atones for much which I deplore in your
+narratives.  Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the
+point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has
+ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical
+series of demonstrations.  You slur over work of the utmost
+finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details
+which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader."
+
+"Why do you not write them yourself?" I said, with some bitterness.
+
+"I will, my dear Watson, I will.  At present I am, as you know,
+fairly busy, but I propose to devote my declining years to the
+composition of a text-book which shall focus the whole art of
+detection into one volume.  Our present research appears to be
+a case of murder."
+
+"You think this Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"I should say so.  Hopkins's writing shows considerable
+agitation, and he is not an emotional man.  Yes, I gather there
+has been violence, and that the body is left for our inspection.
+A mere suicide would not have caused him to send for me.
+As to the release of the lady, it would appear that she has been
+locked in her room during the tragedy.  We are moving in high life,
+Watson; crackling paper, `E.B.' monogram, coat-of-arms,
+picturesque address.  I think that friend Hopkins will live up
+to his reputation and that we shall have an interesting
+morning.  The crime was committed before twelve last night."
+
+"How can you possibly tell?"
+
+"By an inspection of the trains and by reckoning the time.
+The local police had to be called in, they had to communicate
+with Scotland Yard, Hopkins had to go out, and he in turn had
+to send for me.  All that makes a fair night's work.
+Well, here we are at Chislehurst Station, and we shall soon
+set our doubts at rest."
+
+A drive of a couple of miles through narrow country lanes
+brought us to a park gate, which was opened for us by an old
+lodge-keeper, whose haggard face bore the reflection of some
+great disaster.  The avenue ran through a noble park, between
+lines of ancient elms, and ended in a low, widespread house,
+pillared in front after the fashion of Palladio.  The central
+part was evidently of a great age and shrouded in ivy, but the
+large windows showed that modern changes had been carried out,
+and one wing of the house appeared to be entirely new.
+The youthful figure and alert, eager face of Inspector Stanley
+Hopkins confronted us in the open doorway.
+
+"I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes.  And you too,
+Dr. Watson!  But, indeed, if I had my time over again I
+should not have troubled you, for since the lady has come to
+herself she has given so clear an account of the affair that
+there is not much left for us to do.  You remember that
+Lewisham gang of burglars?"
+
+"What, the three Randalls?"
+
+"Exactly; the father and two sons.  It's their work.
+I have not a doubt of it.  They did a job at Sydenham a
+fortnight ago, and were seen and described.  Rather cool
+to do another so soon and so near, but it is they,
+beyond all doubt.  It's a hanging matter this time."
+
+"Sir Eustace is dead, then?"
+
+"Yes; his head was knocked in with his own poker."
+
+"Sir Eustace Brackenstall, the driver tells me."
+
+"Exactly -- one of the richest men in Kent.
+Lady Brackenstall is in the morning-room.  Poor lady,
+she has had a most dreadful experience.  She seemed half
+dead when I saw her first.  I think you had best see her
+and hear her account of the facts.  Then we will examine
+the dining-room together."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person.  Seldom have I seen
+so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful
+a face.  She was a blonde, golden-haired, blue-eyed, and would,
+no doubt, have had the perfect complexion which goes with such
+colouring had not her recent experience left her drawn and
+haggard.  Her sufferings were physical as well as mental, for
+over one eye rose a hideous, plum-coloured swelling, which her
+maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with
+vinegar and water.  The lady lay back exhausted upon a couch,
+but her quick, observant gaze as we entered the room, and the
+alert expression of her beautiful features, showed that neither
+her wits nor her courage had been shaken by her terrible
+experience.  She was enveloped in a loose dressing-gown of blue
+and silver, but a black sequin-covered dinner-dress was hung
+upon the couch beside her.
+
+"I have told you all that happened, Mr. Hopkins," she said,
+wearily; "could you not repeat it for me?  Well, if you think
+it necessary, I will tell these gentlemen what occurred.
+Have they been in the dining-room yet?"
+
+"I thought they had better hear your ladyship's story first."
+
+"I shall be glad when you can arrange matters.  It is horrible
+to me to think of him still lying there."  She shuddered and
+buried her face in her hands.  As she did so the loose gown
+fell back from her forearms.  Holmes uttered an exclamation.
+
+"You have other injuries, madam!  What is this?"
+Two vivid red spots stood out on one of the white, round limbs.
+She hastily covered it.
+
+"It is nothing.  It has no connection with the hideous business
+of last night.  If you and your friend will sit down I will
+tell you all I can.
+
+"I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall.  I have been married
+about a year.  I suppose that it is no use my attempting to
+conceal that our marriage has not been a happy one.
+I fear that all our neighbours would tell you that, even if I
+were to attempt to deny it.  Perhaps the fault may be partly mine.
+I was brought up in the freer, less conventional atmosphere of
+South Australia, and this English life, with its proprieties and
+its primness, is not congenial to me.  But the main reason lies
+in the one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is that
+Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard.  To be with such a man for
+an hour is unpleasant.  Can you imagine what it means for a
+sensitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and
+night?  It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such
+a marriage is binding.  I say that these monstrous laws of yours
+will bring a curse upon the land -- Heaven will not let such
+wickedness endure."  For an instant she sat up, her cheeks flushed,
+and her eyes blazing from under the terrible mark upon her brow.
+Then the strong, soothing hand of the austere maid drew her head
+down on to the cushion, and the wild anger died away into
+passionate sobbing.  At last she continued:--
+
+"I will tell you about last night.  You are aware, perhaps,
+that in this house all servants sleep in the modern wing.
+This central block is made up of the dwelling-rooms, with the
+kitchen behind and our bedroom above.  My maid Theresa sleeps
+above my room.  There is no one else, and no sound could alarm
+those who are in the farther wing.  This must have been well
+known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did.
+
+"Sir Eustace retired about half-past ten.  The servants had
+already gone to their quarters.  Only my maid was up, and she
+had remained in her room at the top of the house until I needed
+her services.  I sat until after eleven in this room, absorbed
+in a book.  Then I walked round to see that all was right before
+I went upstairs.  It was my custom to do this myself, for,
+as I have explained, Sir Eustace was not always to be trusted.
+I went into the kitchen, the butler's pantry, the gun-room,
+the billiard-room, the drawing-room, and finally the dining-room.
+As I approached the window, which is covered with thick curtains,
+I suddenly felt the wind blow upon my face and realized that it
+was open.  I flung the curtain aside and found myself face to
+face with a broad-shouldered, elderly man who had just stepped
+into the room.  The window is a long French one, which really
+forms a door leading to the lawn.  I held my bedroom candle
+lit in my hand, and, by its light, behind the first man I saw
+two others, who were in the act of entering.  I stepped back,
+but the fellow was on me in an instant.  He caught me first by
+the wrist and then by the throat.  I opened my mouth to scream,
+but he struck me a savage blow with his fist over the eye,
+and felled me to the ground.  I must have been unconscious for
+a few minutes, for when I came to myself I found that they
+had torn down the bell-rope and had secured me tightly to the
+oaken chair which stands at the head of the dining-room table.
+I was so firmly bound that I could not move, and a handkerchief
+round my mouth prevented me from uttering any sound.  It was at
+this instant that my unfortunate husband entered the room.
+He had evidently heard some suspicious sounds, and he came
+prepared for such a scene as he found.  He was dressed in his
+shirt and trousers, with his favourite blackthorn cudgel in his
+hand.  He rushed at one of the burglars, but another -- it was
+the elderly man -- stooped, picked the poker out of the grate,
+and struck him a horrible blow as he passed.  He fell without
+a groan, and never moved again.  I fainted once more, but again
+it could only have been a very few minutes during which I was
+insensible.  When I opened my eyes I found that they had
+collected the silver from the sideboard, and they had drawn
+a bottle of wine which stood there.  Each of them had a glass
+in his hand.  I have already told you, have I not, that one
+was elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads.
+They might have been a father with his two sons.  They talked
+together in whispers.  Then they came over and made sure that
+I was still securely bound.  Finally they withdrew, closing
+the window after them.  It was quite a quarter of an hour
+before I got my mouth free.  When I did so my screams brought
+the maid to my assistance.  The other servants were soon alarmed,
+and we sent for the local police, who instantly communicated
+with London.  That is really all that I can tell you, gentlemen,
+and I trust that it will not be necessary for me to go over so
+painful a story again."
+
+"Any questions, Mr. Holmes?" asked Hopkins.
+
+"I will not impose any further tax upon Lady Brackenstall's
+patience and time," said Holmes.  "Before I go into the
+dining-room I should like to hear your experience."
+He looked at the maid.
+
+"I saw the men before ever they came into the house," said she.
+"As I sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight
+down by the lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at
+the time.  It was more than an hour after that I heard my
+mistress scream, and down I ran, to find her, poor lamb, just as
+she says, and him on the floor with his blood and brains over
+the room.  It was enough to drive a woman out of her wits, tied
+there, and her very dress spotted with him; but she never wanted
+courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall
+of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways.  You've questioned her
+long enough, you gentlemen, and now she is coming to her own room,
+just with her old Theresa, to get the rest that she badly needs."
+
+With a motherly tenderness the gaunt woman put her arm round her
+mistress and led her from the room.
+
+"She has been with her all her life," said Hopkins.
+"Nursed her as a baby, and came with her to England
+when they first left Australia eighteen months ago.
+Theresa Wright is her name, and the kind of maid you don't
+pick up nowadays.  This way, Mr. Holmes, if you please!"
+
+The keen interest had passed out of Holmes's expressive face,
+and I knew that with the mystery all the charm of the case had
+departed.  There still remained an arrest to be effected,
+but what were these commonplace rogues that he should soil his
+hands with them?  An abstruse and learned specialist who finds
+that he has been called in for a case of measles would experience
+something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's eyes.
+Yet the scene in the dining-room of the Abbey Grange was
+sufficiently strange to arrest his attention and to recall
+his waning interest.
+
+It was a very large and high chamber, with carved oak ceiling,
+oaken panelling, and a fine array of deer's heads and ancient
+weapons around the walls.  At the farther end from the door was
+the high French window of which we had heard.  Three smaller
+windows on the right-hand side filled the apartment with cold
+winter sunshine.  On the left was a large, deep fireplace, with
+a massive, over-hanging oak mantelpiece.  Beside the fireplace
+was a heavy oaken chair with arms and cross-bars at the bottom.
+In and out through the open woodwork was woven a crimson cord,
+which was secured at each side to the crosspiece below.
+In releasing the lady the cord had been slipped off her,
+but the knots with which it had been secured still remained.
+These details only struck our attention afterwards, for our
+thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible object which
+lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.
+
+It was the body of a tall, well-made man, about forty years of
+age.  He lay upon his back, his face upturned, with his white
+teeth grinning through his short black beard.  His two clenched
+hands were raised above his head, and a heavy blackthorn stick
+lay across them.  His dark, handsome, aquiline features were
+convulsed into a spasm of vindictive hatred, which had set his
+dead face in a terribly fiendish expression.  He had evidently
+been in his bed when the alarm had broken out, for he wore a
+foppish embroidered night-shirt, and his bare feet projected from
+his trousers.  His head was horribly injured, and the whole room
+bore witness to the savage ferocity of the blow which had struck
+him down.  Beside him lay the heavy poker, bent into a curve by
+the concussion.  Holmes examined both it and the indescribable
+wreck which it had wrought.
+
+"He must be a powerful man, this elder Randall," he remarked.
+
+"Yes," said Hopkins.  "I have some record of the fellow,
+and he is a rough customer."
+
+"You should have no difficulty in getting him."
+
+"Not the slightest.  We have been on the look-out for him,
+and there was some idea that he had got away to America.
+Now that we know the gang are here I don't see how they
+can escape.  We have the news at every seaport already,
+and a reward will be offered before evening.  What beats
+me is how they could have done so mad a thing, knowing
+that the lady could describe them, and that we could not
+fail to recognise the description."
+
+"Exactly.  One would have expected that they would have
+silenced Lady Brackenstall as well."
+
+"They may not have realized," I suggested, "that she had
+recovered from her faint."
+
+"That is likely enough.  If she seemed to be senseless they
+would not take her life.  What about this poor fellow, Hopkins?
+I seem to have heard some queer stories about him."
+
+"He was a good-hearted man when he was sober, but a perfect
+fiend when he was drunk, or rather when he was half drunk,
+for he seldom really went the whole way.  The devil seemed
+to be in him at such times, and he was capable of anything.
+From what I hear, in spite of all his wealth and his title,
+he very nearly came our way once or twice.  There was a
+scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting
+it on fire -- her ladyship's dog, to make the matter worse --
+and that was only hushed up with difficulty.  Then he threw
+a decanter at that maid, Theresa Wright; there was trouble
+about that.  On the whole, and between ourselves, it will be
+a brighter house without him.  What are you looking at now?"
+
+Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the
+knots upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured.
+Then he carefully scrutinized the broken and frayed end where
+it had snapped off when the burglar had dragged it down.
+
+"When this was pulled down the bell in the kitchen must have
+rung loudly," he remarked.
+
+"No one could hear it.  The kitchen stands right at the back
+of the house."
+
+"How did the burglar know no one would hear it?  How dared he
+pull at a bell-rope in that reckless fashion?"
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Holmes, exactly.  You put the very question which
+I have asked myself again and again.  There can be no doubt that
+this fellow must have known the house and its habits.  He must
+have perfectly understood that the servants would all be in bed
+at that comparatively early hour, and that no one could possibly
+hear a bell ring in the kitchen.  Therefore he must have been in
+close league with one of the servants.  Surely that is evident.
+But there are eight servants, and all of good character."
+
+"Other things being equal," said Holmes, "one would suspect the
+one at whose head the master threw a decanter.  And yet that
+would involve treachery towards the mistress to whom this woman
+seems devoted.  Well, well, the point is a minor one, and when
+you have Randall you will probably find no difficulty in
+securing his accomplice.  The lady's story certainly seems to be
+corroborated, if it needed corroboration, by every detail which
+we see before us."  He walked to the French window and threw it
+open.  "There are no signs here, but the ground is iron hard,
+and one would not expect them.  I see that these candles on the
+mantelpiece have been lighted."
+
+"Yes; it was by their light and that of the lady's bedroom
+candle that the burglars saw their way about."
+
+"And what did they take?"
+
+"Well, they did not take much -- only half-a-dozen articles of
+plate off the sideboard.  Lady Brackenstall thinks that they
+were themselves so disturbed by the death of Sir Eustace that
+they did not ransack the house as they would otherwise have done."
+
+"No doubt that is true.  And yet they drank some wine, I understand."
+
+"To steady their own nerves."
+
+"Exactly.  These three glasses upon the sideboard have been
+untouched, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes; and the bottle stands as they left it."
+
+"Let us look at it.  Halloa! halloa! what is this?"
+
+The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged
+with wine, and one of them containing some dregs of bees-wing.
+The bottle stood near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay
+a long, deeply-stained cork.  Its appearance and the dust upon
+the bottle showed that it was no common vintage which the
+murderers had enjoyed.
+
+A change had come over Holmes's manner.  He had lost his listless
+expression, and again I saw an alert light of interest in his keen,
+deep-set eyes.  He raised the cork and examined it minutely.
+
+"How did they draw it?" he asked.
+
+Hopkins pointed to a half-opened drawer.  In it lay some table
+linen and a large cork-screw.
+
+"Did Lady Brackenstall say that screw was used?"
+
+"No; you remember that she was senseless at the moment when the
+bottle was opened."
+
+"Quite so.  As a matter of fact that screw was NOT used.
+This bottle was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained
+in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long.  If you
+examine the top of the cork you will observe that the screw was
+driven in three times before the cork was extracted.  It has never
+been transfixed.  This long screw would have transfixed it and
+drawn it with a single pull.  When you catch this fellow you will
+find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession."
+
+"Excellent!" said Hopkins.
+
+"But these glasses do puzzle me, I confess.  Lady Brackenstall
+actually SAW the three men drinking, did she not?"
+
+"Yes; she was clear about that."
+
+"Then there is an end of it.  What more is to be said?
+And yet you must admit that the three glasses are very
+remarkable, Hopkins.  What, you see nothing remarkable!
+Well, well, let it pass.  Perhaps when a man has special
+knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages
+him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand.
+Of course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses.
+Well, good morning, Hopkins.  I don't see that I can be of
+any use to you, and you appear to have your case very clear.
+You will let me know when Randall is arrested, and any further
+developments which may occur.  I trust that I shall soon have
+to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion.  Come, Watson,
+I fancy that we may employ ourselves more profitably at home."
+
+During our return journey I could see by Holmes's face that
+he was much puzzled by something which he had observed.
+Every now and then, by an effort, he would throw off the
+impression and talk as if the matter were clear, but then his
+doubts would settle down upon him again, and his knitted brows
+and abstracted eyes would show that his thoughts had gone back
+once more to the great dining-room of the Abbey Grange in which
+this midnight tragedy had been enacted.  At last, by a sudden
+impulse, just as our train was crawling out of a suburban station,
+he sprang on to the platform and pulled me out after him.
+
+"Excuse me, my dear fellow," said he, as we watched the rear
+carriages of our train disappearing round a curve; "I am sorry
+to make you the victim of what may seem a mere whim, but on my
+life, Watson, I simply CAN'T leave that case in this condition.
+Every instinct that I possess cries out against it.
+It's wrong -- it's all wrong -- I'll swear that it's wrong.
+And yet the lady's story was complete, the maid's corroboration
+was sufficient, the detail was fairly exact.  What have I to put
+against that?  Three wine-glasses, that is all.  But if I had
+not taken things for granted, if I had examined everything with the
+care which I would have shown had we approached the case DE NOVO
+and had no cut-and-dried story to warp my mind, would I not then
+have found something more definite to go upon?  Of course I should.
+Sit down on this bench, Watson, until a train for Chislehurst
+arrives, and allow me to lay the evidence before you, imploring
+you in the first instance to dismiss from your mind the idea that
+anything which the maid or her mistress may have said must
+necessarily be true.  The lady's charming personality must not
+be permitted to warp our judgment.
+
+"Surely there are details in her story which, if we looked at it
+in cold blood, would excite our suspicion.  These burglars made
+a considerable haul at Sydenham a fortnight ago.  Some account
+of them and of their appearance was in the papers, and would
+naturally occur to anyone who wished to invent a story in which
+imaginary robbers should play a part.  As a matter of fact,
+burglars who have done a good stroke of business are, as a rule,
+only too glad to enjoy the proceeds in peace and quiet without
+embarking on another perilous undertaking.  Again, it is unusual
+for burglars to operate at so early an hour; it is unusual for
+burglars to strike a lady to prevent her screaming, since one
+would imagine that was the sure way to make her scream; it is
+unusual for them to commit murder when their numbers are
+sufficient to overpower one man; it is unusual for them to be
+content with a limited plunder when there is much more within
+their reach; and finally I should say that it was very unusual
+for such men to leave a bottle half empty.  How do all these
+unusuals strike you, Watson?"
+
+"Their cumulative effect is certainly considerable, and yet each
+of them is quite possible in itself.  The most unusual thing of all,
+as it seems to me, is that the lady should be tied to the chair."
+
+"Well, I am not so clear about that, Watson; for it is evident
+that they must either kill her or else secure her in such a
+way that she could not give immediate notice of their escape.
+But at any rate I have shown, have I not, that there is a certain
+element of improbability about the lady's story?  And now
+on the top of this comes the incident of the wine-glasses."
+
+"What about the wine-glasses?"
+
+"Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
+
+"I see them clearly."
+
+"We are told that three men drank from them.
+Does that strike you as likely?"
+
+"Why not?  There was wine in each glass."
+
+"Exactly; but there was bees-wing only in one glass.  You must
+have noticed that fact.  What does that suggest to your mind?"
+
+"The last glass filled would be most likely to contain bees-wing."
+
+"Not at all.  The bottle was full of it, and it is inconceivable
+that the first two glasses were clear and the third heavily
+charged with it.  There are two possible explanations, and only
+two.  One is that after the second glass was filled the bottle
+was violently agitated, and so the third glass received the
+bees-wing.  That does not appear probable.  No, no; I am sure
+that I am right."
+
+"What, then, do you suppose?"
+
+"That only two glasses were used, and that the dregs of
+both were poured into a third glass, so as to give the false
+impression that three people had been here.  In that way all
+the bees-wing would be in the last glass, would it not?  Yes,
+I am convinced that this is so.  But if I have hit upon the true
+explanation of this one small phenomenon, then in an instant the
+case rises from the commonplace to the exceedingly remarkable,
+for it can only mean that Lady Brackenstall and her maid have
+deliberately lied to us, that not one word of their story is to
+be believed, that they have some very strong reason for covering
+the real criminal, and that we must construct our case for
+ourselves without any help from them.  That is the mission which
+now lies before us, and here, Watson, is the Chislehurst train."
+
+The household of the Abbey Grange were much surprised at our
+return, but Sherlock Holmes, finding that Stanley Hopkins had
+gone off to report to head-quarters, took possession of the
+dining-room, locked the door upon the inside, and devoted
+himself for two hours to one of those minute and laborious
+investigations which formed the solid basis on which his
+brilliant edifices of deduction were reared.  Seated in a
+corner like an interested student who observes the demonstration
+of his professor, I followed every step of that remarkable research.
+The window, the curtains, the carpet, the chair, the rope -- each
+in turn was minutely examined and duly pondered.  The body of
+the unfortunate baronet had been removed, but all else remained
+as we had seen it in the morning.  Then, to my astonishment,
+Holmes climbed up on to the massive mantelpiece.  Far above his
+head hung the few inches of red cord which were still attached
+to the wire.  For a long time he gazed upward at it, and then in
+an attempt to get nearer to it he rested his knee upon a wooden
+bracket on the wall.  This brought his hand within a few inches
+of the broken end of the rope, but it was not this so much as
+the bracket itself which seemed to engage his attention.
+Finally he sprang down with an ejaculation of satisfaction.
+
+"It's all right, Watson," said he.  "We have got our case --
+one of the most remarkable in our collection.  But, dear me,
+how slow-witted I have been, and how nearly I have committed
+the blunder of my lifetime!  Now, I think that with a few
+missing links my chain is almost complete."
+
+"You have got your men?"
+
+"Man, Watson, man.  Only one, but a very formidable person.
+Strong as a lion -- witness the blow that bent that poker.
+Six foot three in height, active as a squirrel, dexterous
+with his fingers; finally, remarkably quick-witted, for this
+whole ingenious story is of his concoction.  Yes, Watson,
+we have come upon the handiwork of a very remarkable individual.
+And yet in that bell-rope he has given us a clue which should
+not have left us a doubt."
+
+"Where was the clue?"
+
+"Well, if you were to pull down a bell-rope, Watson, where would
+you expect it to break?  Surely at the spot where it is attached
+to the wire.  Why should it break three inches from the top as
+this one has done?"
+
+"Because it is frayed there?"
+
+"Exactly.  This end, which we can examine, is frayed.  He was
+cunning enough to do that with his knife.  But the other end is
+not frayed.  You could not observe that from here, but if you
+were on the mantelpiece you would see that it is cut clean off
+without any mark of fraying whatever.  You can reconstruct what
+occurred.  The man needed the rope.  He would not tear it down
+for fear of giving the alarm by ringing the bell.  What did he do?
+He sprang up on the mantelpiece, could not quite reach it,
+put his knee on the bracket -- you will see the impression in the
+dust -- and so got his knife to bear upon the cord.  I could not
+reach the place by at least three inches, from which I infer
+that he is at least three inches a bigger man than I.  Look at
+that mark upon the seat of the oaken chair!  What is it?"
+
+"Blood."
+
+"Undoubtedly it is blood.  This alone puts the lady's story out
+of court.  If she were seated on the chair when the crime was
+done, how comes that mark?  No, no; she was placed in the chair
+AFTER the death of her husband.  I'll wager that the black dress
+shows a corresponding mark to this.  We have not yet met our
+Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it begins in
+defeat and ends in victory.  I should like now to have a few
+words with the nurse Theresa.  We must be wary for awhile,
+if we are to get the information which we want."
+
+She was an interesting person, this stern Australian nurse.
+Taciturn, suspicious, ungracious, it took some time before
+Holmes's pleasant manner and frank acceptance of all that she
+said thawed her into a corresponding amiability.  She did not
+attempt to conceal her hatred for her late employer.
+
+"Yes, sir, it is true that he threw the decanter at me.
+I heard him call my mistress a name, and I told him that he
+would not dare to speak so if her brother had been there.
+Then it was that he threw it at me.  He might have thrown a
+dozen if he had but left my bonny bird alone.  He was for ever
+illtreating her, and she too proud to complain.  She will not
+even tell me all that he has done to her.  She never told me
+of those marks on her arm that you saw this morning, but I know
+very well that they come from a stab with a hat-pin.
+The sly fiend -- Heaven forgive me that I should speak of him so,
+now that he is dead, but a fiend he was if ever one walked the earth.
+He was all honey when first we met him, only eighteen months ago,
+and we both feel as if it were eighteen years.  She had only just
+arrived in London.  Yes, it was her first voyage -- she had never
+been from home before.  He won her with his title and his money
+and his false London ways.  If she made a mistake she has paid
+for it, if ever a woman did.  What month did we meet him?  Well,
+I tell you it was just after we arrived.  We arrived in June,
+and it was July.  They were married in January of last year.
+Yes, she is down in the morning-room again, and I have no doubt
+she will see you, but you must not ask too much of her, for she
+has gone through all that flesh and blood will stand."
+
+Lady Brackenstall was reclining on the same couch, but looked
+brighter than before.  The maid had entered with us, and began
+once more to foment the bruise upon her mistress's brow.
+
+"I hope," said the lady, "that you have not come to
+cross-examine me again?"
+
+"No," Holmes answered, in his gentlest voice, "I will not cause
+you any unnecessary trouble, Lady Brackenstall, and my whole
+desire is to make things easy for you, for I am convinced that
+you are a much-tried woman.  If you will treat me as a friend
+and trust me you may find that I will justify your trust."
+
+"What do you want me to do?"
+
+"To tell me the truth."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"No, no, Lady Brackenstall, it is no use.  You may have heard
+of any little reputation which I possess.  I will stake it all
+on the fact that your story is an absolute fabrication."
+
+Mistress and maid were both staring at Holmes with pale faces
+and frightened eyes.
+
+"You are an impudent fellow!" cried Theresa.  "Do you mean to
+say that my mistress has told a lie?"
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"Have you nothing to tell me?"
+
+"I have told you everything."
+
+"Think once more, Lady Brackenstall.  Would it not be better
+to be frank?"
+
+For an instant there was hesitation in her beautiful face.
+Then some new strong thought caused it to set like a mask.
+
+"I have told you all I know."
+
+Holmes took his hat and shrugged his shoulders.  "I am sorry,"
+he said, and without another word we left the room and the
+house.  There was a pond in the park, and to this my friend
+led the way.  It was frozen over, but a single hole was left
+for the convenience of a solitary swan.  Holmes gazed at it and
+then passed on to the lodge gate.  There he scribbled a short
+note for Stanley Hopkins and left it with the lodge-keeper.
+
+"It may be a hit or it may be a miss, but we are bound to do
+something for friend Hopkins, just to justify this second visit,"
+said he.  "I will not quite take him into my confidence yet.
+I think our next scene of operations must be the shipping office
+of the Adelaide-Southampton line, which stands at the end of
+Pall Mall, if I remember right.  There is a second line of
+steamers which connect South Australia with England, but we
+will draw the larger cover first."
+
+Holmes's card sent in to the manager ensured instant attention,
+and he was not long in acquiring all the information which he
+needed.  In June of '95 only one of their line had reached a
+home port.  It was the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR, their largest and best
+boat.  A reference to the passenger list showed that Miss Fraser
+of Adelaide, with her maid, had made the voyage in her.  The
+boat was now on her way to Australia, somewhere to the south of
+the Suez Canal.  Her officers were the same as in '95, with one
+exception.  The first officer, Mr. Jack Croker, had been made a
+captain and was to take charge of their new ship, the BASS ROCK,
+sailing in two days' time from Southampton.  He lived at Sydenham,
+but he was likely to be in that morning for instructions, if we
+cared to wait for him.
+
+No; Mr. Holmes had no desire to see him, but would be glad to
+know more about his record and character.
+
+His record was magnificent.  There was not an officer in the
+fleet to touch him.  As to his character, he was reliable on
+duty, but a wild, desperate fellow off the deck of his ship,
+hot-headed, excitable, but loyal, honest, and kind-hearted.
+That was the pith of the information with which Holmes left the
+office of the Adelaide-Southampton company.  Thence he drove to
+Scotland Yard, but instead of entering he sat in his cab with
+his brows drawn down, lost in profound thought.  Finally he
+drove round to the Charing Cross telegraph office, sent off a
+message, and then, at last, we made for Baker Street once more.
+
+"No, I couldn't do it, Watson," said he, as we re-entered our
+room.  "Once that warrant was made out nothing on earth would
+save him.  Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done
+more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had
+done by his crime.  I have learned caution now, and I had rather
+play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience.
+Let us know a little more before we act."
+
+Before evening we had a visit from Inspector Stanley Hopkins.
+Things were not going very well with him.
+
+"I believe that you are a wizard, Mr. Holmes.  I really do
+sometimes think that you have powers that are not human.
+Now, how on earth could you know that the stolen silver was
+at the bottom of that pond?"
+
+"I didn't know it."
+
+"But you told me to examine it."
+
+"You got it, then?"
+
+"Yes, I got it."
+
+"I am very glad if I have helped you."
+
+"But you haven't helped me.  You have made the affair far more
+difficult.  What sort of burglars are they who steal silver and
+then throw it into the nearest pond?"
+
+"It was certainly rather eccentric behaviour.  I was merely
+going on the idea that if the silver had been taken by persons
+who did not want it, who merely took it for a blind as it were,
+then they would naturally be anxious to get rid of it."
+
+"But why should such an idea cross your mind?"
+
+"Well, I thought it was possible.  When they came out through
+the French window there was the pond, with one tempting little
+hole in the ice, right in front of their noses.  Could there be
+a better hiding-place?"
+
+"Ah, a hiding-place -- that is better!" cried Stanley Hopkins.
+"Yes, yes, I see it all now!  It was early, there were folk
+upon the roads, they were afraid of being seen with the silver,
+so they sank it in the pond, intending to return for it when
+the coast was clear.  Excellent, Mr. Holmes -- that is better
+than your idea of a blind."
+
+"Quite so; you have got an admirable theory.  I have no doubt
+that my own ideas were quite wild, but you must admit that they
+have ended in discovering the silver."
+
+"Yes, sir, yes.  It was all your doing.  But I have had
+a bad set-back."
+
+"A set-back?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes.  The Randall gang were arrested in New York
+this morning."
+
+"Dear me, Hopkins!  That is certainly rather against your
+theory that they committed a murder in Kent last night."
+
+"It is fatal, Mr. Holmes, absolutely fatal.  Still, there are
+other gangs of three besides the Randalls, or it may be some
+new gang of which the police have never heard."
+
+"Quite so; it is perfectly possible.  What, are you off?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Holmes; there is no rest for me until I have got to the
+bottom of the business.  I suppose you have no hint to give me?"
+
+"I have given you one."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"Well, I suggested a blind."
+
+"But why, Mr. Holmes, why?"
+
+"Ah, that's the question, of course.  But I commend the idea
+to your mind.  You might possibly find that there was something
+in it.  You won't stop for dinner?  Well, good-bye, and let us
+know how you get on."
+
+Dinner was over and the table cleared before Holmes alluded to
+the matter again.  He had lit his pipe and held his slippered
+feet to the cheerful blaze of the fire.  Suddenly he looked at
+his watch.
+
+"I expect developments, Watson."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Now -- within a few minutes.  I dare say you thought I acted
+rather badly to Stanley Hopkins just now?"
+
+"I trust your judgment."
+
+"A very sensible reply, Watson.  You must look at it this way:
+what I know is unofficial; what he knows is official.  I have
+the right to private judgment, but he has none.  He must disclose
+all, or he is a traitor to his service.  In a doubtful case I
+would not put him in so painful a position, and so I reserve my
+information until my own mind is clear upon the matter."
+
+"But when will that be?"
+
+"The time has come.  You will now be present at the last scene
+of a remarkable little drama."
+
+There was a sound upon the stairs, and our door was opened to
+admit as fine a specimen of manhood as ever passed through it.
+He was a very tall young man, golden-moustached, blue-eyed,
+with a skin which had been burned by tropical suns, and a springy
+step which showed that the huge frame was as active as it was
+strong.  He closed the door behind him, and then he stood with
+clenched hands and heaving breast, choking down some
+overmastering emotion.
+
+"Sit down, Captain Croker.  You got my telegram?"
+
+Our visitor sank into an arm-chair and looked from one to the
+other of us with questioning eyes.
+
+"I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said.  I heard
+that you had been down to the office.  There was no getting away
+from you.  Let's hear the worst.  What are you going to do with me?
+Arrest me?  Speak out, man!  You can't sit there and play with me
+like a cat with a mouse."
+
+"Give him a cigar," said Holmes.  "Bite on that, Captain Croker,
+and don't let your nerves run away with you.  I should not sit
+here smoking with you if I thought that you were a common criminal,
+you may be sure of that.  Be frank with me, and we may do some good.
+Play tricks with me, and I'll crush you."
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"To give me a true account of all that happened at the Abbey
+Grange last night -- a TRUE account, mind you, with nothing added
+and nothing taken off.  I know so much already that if you go
+one inch off the straight I'll blow this police whistle from my
+window and the affair goes out of my hands for ever."
+
+The sailor thought for a little.  Then he struck his leg with
+his great, sun-burned hand.
+
+"I'll chance it," he cried.  "I believe you are a man of your
+word, and a white man, and I'll tell you the whole story.
+But one thing I will say first.  So far as I am concerned I regret
+nothing and I fear nothing, and I would do it all again and be
+proud of the job.  Curse the beast, if he had as many lives as a
+cat he would owe them all to me!  But it's the lady, Mary --
+Mary Fraser -- for never will I call her by that accursed name.
+When I think of getting her into trouble, I who would give my life
+just to bring one smile to her dear face, it's that that turns my
+soul into water.  And yet -- and yet -- what less could I do?
+I'll tell you my story, gentlemen, and then I'll ask you as man
+to man what less could I do.
+
+"I must go back a bit.  You seem to know everything, so I expect
+that you know that I met her when she was a passenger and I was
+first officer of the ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.  From the first day I
+met her she was the only woman to me.  Every day of that voyage
+I loved her more, and many a time since have I kneeled down in
+the darkness of the night watch and kissed the deck of that ship
+because I knew her dear feet had trod it.  She was never engaged
+to me.  She treated me as fairly as ever a woman treated a man.
+I have no complaint to make.  It was all love on my side, and
+all good comradeship and friendship on hers.  When we parted she
+was a free woman, but I could never again be a free man.
+
+"Next time I came back from sea I heard of her marriage.
+Well, why shouldn't she marry whom she liked?  Title and money --
+who could carry them better than she?  She was born for all
+that is beautiful and dainty.  I didn't grieve over her marriage.
+I was not such a selfish hound as that.  I just rejoiced that good
+luck had come her way, and that she had not thrown herself away
+on a penniless sailor.  That's how I loved Mary Fraser.
+
+"Well, I never thought to see her again; but last voyage I was
+promoted, and the new boat was not yet launched, so I had to
+wait for a couple of months with my people at Sydenham.
+One day out in a country lane I met Theresa Wright, her old maid.
+She told me about her, about him, about everything.  I tell you,
+gentlemen, it nearly drove me mad.  This drunken hound, that he
+should dare to raise his hand to her whose boots he was not worthy
+to lick!  I met Theresa again.  Then I met Mary herself --
+and met her again.  Then she would meet me no more.  But the
+other day I had a notice that I was to start on my voyage within
+a week, and I determined that I would see her once before I left.
+Theresa was always my friend, for she loved Mary and hated this
+villain almost as much as I did.  From her I learned
+the ways of the house.  Mary used to sit up reading in her own
+little room downstairs.  I crept round there last night and
+scratched at the window.  At first she would not open to me,
+but in her heart I know that now she loves me, and she could not
+leave me in the frosty night.  She whispered to me to come round
+to the big front window, and I found it open before me so as to
+let me into the dining-room.  Again I heard from her own lips
+things that made my blood boil, and again I cursed this brute
+who mishandled the woman that I loved.  Well, gentlemen, I was
+standing with her just inside the window, in all innocence,
+as Heaven is my judge, when he rushed like a madman into the room,
+called her the vilest name that a man could use to a woman, and
+welted her across the face with the stick he had in his hand.
+I had sprung for the poker, and it was a fair fight between us.
+See here on my arm where his first blow fell.  Then it was my
+turn, and I went through him as if he had been a rotten pumpkin.
+Do you think I was sorry?  Not I!  It was his life or mine,
+but far more than that it was his life or hers, for how could I
+leave her in the power of this madman?  That was how I killed him.
+Was I wrong?  Well, then, what would either of you gentlemen
+have done if you had been in my position?"
+
+"She had screamed when he struck her, and that brought old
+Theresa down from the room above.  There was a bottle of wine
+on the sideboard, and I opened it and poured a little between
+Mary's lips, for she was half dead with the shock.  Then I took
+a drop myself.  Theresa was as cool as ice, and it was her plot
+as much as mine.  We must make it appear that burglars had done
+the thing.  Theresa kept on repeating our story to her mistress,
+while I swarmed up and cut the rope of the bell.  Then I lashed
+her in her chair, and frayed out the end of the rope to make it
+look natural, else they would wonder how in the world a burglar
+could have got up there to cut it.  Then I gathered up a few
+plates and pots of silver, to carry out the idea of a robbery,
+and there I left them with orders to give the alarm when I had
+a quarter of an hour's start.  I dropped the silver into the
+pond and made off for Sydenham, feeling that for once in my life
+I had done a real good night's work.  And that's the truth and
+the whole truth, Mr. Holmes, if it costs me my neck."
+
+Holmes smoked for some time in silence.  Then he crossed
+the room and shook our visitor by the hand.
+
+"That's what I think," said he.  "I know that every word is
+true, for you have hardly said a word which I did not know.
+No one but an acrobat or a sailor could have got up to that
+bell-rope from the bracket, and no one but a sailor could have
+made the knots with which the cord was fastened to the chair.
+Only once had this lady been brought into contact with sailors,
+and that was on her voyage, and it was someone of her own class
+of life, since she was trying hard to shield him and so showing
+that she loved him.  You see how easy it was for me to lay my
+hands upon you when once I had started upon the right trail."
+
+"I thought the police never could have seen through our dodge."
+
+"And the police haven't; nor will they, to the best of my belief.
+Now, look here, Captain Croker, this is a very serious matter,
+though I am willing to admit that you acted under the most extreme
+provocation to which any man could be subjected.  I am not sure
+that in defence of your own life your action will not be pronounced
+legitimate.  However, that is for a British jury to decide.
+Meanwhile I have so much sympathy for you that if you choose to
+disappear in the next twenty-four hours I will promise you that
+no one will hinder you."
+
+"And then it will all come out?"
+
+"Certainly it will come out."
+
+The sailor flushed with anger.
+
+"What sort of proposal is that to make a man?  I know enough
+of law to understand that Mary would be had as accomplice.
+Do you think I would leave her alone to face the music while
+I slunk away?  No, sir; let them do their worst upon me,
+but for Heaven's sake, Mr. Holmes, find some way of keeping
+my poor Mary out of the courts."
+
+Holmes for a second time held out his hand to the sailor.
+
+"I was only testing you, and you ring true every time.
+Well, it is a great responsibility that I take upon myself,
+but I have given Hopkins an excellent hint, and if he can't
+avail himself of it I can do no more.  See here, Captain Croker,
+we'll do this in due form of law.  You are the prisoner.
+Watson, you are a British jury, and I never met a man who was
+more eminently fitted to represent one.  I am the judge.
+Now, gentleman of the jury, you have heard the evidence.
+Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?"
+
+"Not guilty, my lord," said I.
+
+"Vox populi, vox Dei.  You are acquitted, Captain Croker.
+So long as the law does not find some other victim you are
+safe from me.  Come back to this lady in a year, and may her
+future and yours justify us in the judgment which we have
+pronounced this night."
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+
+                     THE STRAND MAGAZINE
+                   Vol. 28  DECEMBER, 1904
+                THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
+                    By ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
+
+XIII. --- The Adventure of the Second Stain.
+
+
+I HAD intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the
+last of those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which
+I should ever communicate to the public.  This resolution of
+mine was not due to any lack of material, since I have notes of
+many hundreds of cases to which I have never alluded, nor was it
+caused by any waning interest on the part of my readers in the
+singular personality and unique methods of this remarkable man.
+The real reason lay in the reluctance which Mr. Holmes has shown
+to the continued publication of his experiences.  So long as he
+was in actual professional practice the records of his successes
+were of some practical value to him; but since he has definitely
+retired from London and betaken himself to study and bee-farming
+on the Sussex Downs, notoriety has become hateful to him, and he
+has peremptorily requested that his wishes in this matter should
+be strictly observed.  It was only upon my representing to him
+that I had given a promise that "The Adventure of the Second
+Stain" should be published when the times were ripe, and
+pointing out to him that it is only appropriate that this long
+series of episodes should culminate in the most important
+international case which he has ever been called upon to handle,
+that I at last succeeded in obtaining his consent that a
+carefully-guarded account of the incident should at last be laid
+before the public.  If in telling the story I seem to be
+somewhat vague in certain details the public will readily
+understand that there is an excellent reason for my reticence.
+
+
+It was, then, in a year, and even in a decade, that shall be
+nameless, that upon one Tuesday morning in autumn we found two
+visitors of European fame within the walls of our humble room
+in Baker Street.  The one, austere, high-nosed, eagle-eyed,
+and dominant, was none other than the illustrious Lord Bellinger,
+twice Premier of Britain.  The other, dark, clear-cut, and
+elegant, hardly yet of middle age, and endowed with every beauty
+of body and of mind, was the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope,
+Secretary for European Affairs, and the most rising statesman
+in the country.  They sat side by side upon our paper-littered
+settee, and it was easy to see from their worn and anxious faces
+that it was business of the most pressing importance which had
+brought them.  The Premier's thin, blue-veined hands were
+clasped tightly over the ivory head of his umbrella, and his
+gaunt, ascetic face looked gloomily from Holmes to me.
+The European Secretary pulled nervously at his moustache and
+fidgeted with the seals of his watch-chain.
+
+"When I discovered my loss, Mr. Holmes, which was at eight
+o'clock this morning, I at once informed the Prime Minister.
+It was at his suggestion that we have both come to you."
+
+"Have you informed the police?"
+
+"No, sir," said the Prime Minister, with the quick, decisive
+manner for which he was famous.  "We have not done so, nor is
+it possible that we should do so.  To inform the police must,
+in the long run, mean to inform the public.  This is what we
+particularly desire to avoid."
+
+"And why, sir?"
+
+"Because the document in question is of such immense importance
+that its publication might very easily -- I might almost say
+probably -- lead to European complications of the utmost moment.
+It is not too much to say that peace or war may hang upon the
+issue.  Unless its recovery can be attended with the utmost
+secrecy, then it may as well not be recovered at all, for all
+that is aimed at by those who have taken it is that its contents
+should be generally known."
+
+"I understand.  Now, Mr. Trelawney Hope, I should be much
+obliged if you would tell me exactly the circumstances under
+which this document disappeared."
+
+"That can be done in a very few words, Mr. Holmes.
+The letter -- for it was a letter from a foreign potentate --
+was received six days ago.  It was of such importance that I have
+never left it in my safe, but I have taken it across each evening
+to my house in Whitehall Terrace, and kept it in my bedroom in a
+locked despatch-box.  It was there last night.  Of that I am
+certain.  I actually opened the box while I was dressing for
+dinner, and saw the document inside.  This morning it was gone.
+The despatch-box had stood beside the glass upon my dressing-table
+all night.  I am a light sleeper, and so is my wife.  We are both
+prepared to swear that no one could have entered the room during
+the night.  And yet I repeat that the paper is gone."
+
+"What time did you dine?"
+
+"Half-past seven."
+
+"How long was it before you went to bed?"
+
+"My wife had gone to the theatre.  I waited up for her.
+It was half-past eleven before we went to our room."
+
+"Then for four hours the despatch-box had lain unguarded?"
+
+"No one is ever permitted to enter that room save the housemaid
+in the morning, and my valet, or my wife's maid, during the rest
+of the day.  They are both trusty servants who have been with us
+for some time.  Besides, neither of them could possibly have
+known that there was anything more valuable than the ordinary
+departmental papers in my despatch-box."
+
+"Who did know of the existence of that letter?"
+
+"No one in the house."
+
+"Surely your wife knew?"
+
+"No, sir; I had said nothing to my wife until I missed the
+paper this morning."
+
+The Premier nodded approvingly.
+
+"I have long known, sir, how high is your sense of public duty,"
+said he.  "I am convinced that in the case of a secret of this
+importance it would rise superior to the most intimate domestic ties."
+
+The European Secretary bowed.
+
+"You do me no more than justice, sir.  Until this morning I have
+never breathed one word to my wife upon this matter."
+
+"Could she have guessed?"
+
+"No, Mr. Holmes, she could not have guessed -- nor could anyone
+have guessed."
+
+"Have you lost any documents before?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+"Who is there in England who did know of the existence of this letter?"
+
+"Each member of the Cabinet was informed of it yesterday;
+but the pledge of secrecy which attends every Cabinet meeting
+was increased by the solemn warning which was given by the Prime
+Minister.  Good heavens, to think that within a few hours I
+should myself have lost it!"  His handsome face was distorted
+with a spasm of despair, and his hands tore at his hair.
+For a moment we caught a glimpse of the natural man, impulsive,
+ardent, keenly sensitive.  The next the aristocratic mask was
+replaced, and the gentle voice had returned.  "Besides the
+members of the Cabinet there are two, or possibly three,
+departmental officials who know of the letter.  No one else
+in England, Mr. Holmes, I assure you."
+
+"But abroad?"
+
+"I believe that no one abroad has seen it save the man who wrote it.
+I am well convinced that his Ministers -- that the usual official
+channels have not been employed."
+
+Holmes considered for some little time.
+
+"Now, sir, I must ask you more particularly what this document is,
+and why its disappearance should have such momentous consequences?"
+
+The two statesmen exchanged a quick glance and the Premier's
+shaggy eyebrows gathered in a frown.
+
+"Mr. Holmes, the envelope is a long, thin one of pale blue colour.
+There is a seal of red wax stamped with a crouching lion.
+It is addressed in large, bold handwriting to ---"
+
+"I fear, sir," said Holmes, "that, interesting and indeed
+essential as these details are, my inquiries must go more to the
+root of things.  What WAS the letter?"
+
+"That is a State secret of the utmost importance, and I fear
+that I cannot tell you, nor do I see that it is necessary.
+If by the aid of the powers which you are said to possess you
+can find such an envelope as I describe with its enclosure,
+you will have deserved well of your country, and earned any
+reward which it lies in our power to bestow."
+
+Sherlock Holmes rose with a smile.
+
+"You are two of the most busy men in the country," said he,
+"and in my own small way I have also a good many calls upon me.
+I regret exceedingly that I cannot help you in this matter,
+and any continuation of this interview would be a waste of time."
+
+The Premier sprang to his feet with that quick, fierce gleam of
+his deep-set eyes before which a Cabinet has cowered.  "I am not
+accustomed, sir ----" he began, but mastered his anger and
+resumed his seat.  For a minute or more we all sat in silence.
+Then the old statesman shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"We must accept your terms, Mr. Holmes.  No doubt you are right,
+and it is unreasonable for us to expect you to act unless we
+give you our entire confidence."
+
+"I agree with you, sir," said the younger statesman.
+
+"Then I will tell you, relying entirely upon your honour and
+that of your colleague, Dr. Watson.  I may appeal to your
+patriotism also, for I could not imagine a greater misfortune
+for the country than that this affair should come out."
+
+"You may safely trust us."
+
+"The letter, then, is from a certain foreign potentate who has
+been ruffled by some recent Colonial developments of this
+country.  It has been written hurriedly and upon his own
+responsibility entirely.  Inquiries have shown that his
+Ministers know nothing of the matter.  At the same time it is
+couched in so unfortunate a manner, and certain phrases in it
+are of so provocative a character, that its publication would
+undoubtedly lead to a most dangerous state of feeling in this
+country.  There would be such a ferment, sir, that I do not
+hesitate to say that within a week of the publication of that
+letter this country would be involved in a great war."
+
+Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the
+Premier.
+
+"Exactly.  It was he.  And it is this letter -- this letter which
+may well mean the expenditure of a thousand millions and the
+lives of a hundred thousand men -- which has become lost in this
+unaccountable fashion."
+
+"Have you informed the sender?"
+
+"Yes, sir, a cipher telegram has been despatched."
+
+"Perhaps he desires the publication of the letter."
+
+"No, sir, we have strong reason to believe that he already
+understands that he has acted in an indiscreet and hot-headed
+manner.  It would be a greater blow to him and to his country
+than to us if this letter were to come out."
+
+"If this is so, whose interest is it that the letter should
+come out?  Why should anyone desire to steal it or to publish it?"
+
+"There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high
+international politics.  But if you consider the European
+situation you will have no difficulty in perceiving the motive.
+The whole of Europe is an armed camp.  There is a double league
+which makes a fair balance of military power.  Great Britain
+holds the scales.  If Britain were driven into war with one
+confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other
+confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not.  Do you follow?"
+
+"Very clearly.  It is then the interest of the enemies of this
+potentate to secure and publish this letter, so as to make a
+breach between his country and ours?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"And to whom would this document be sent if it fell into the
+hands of an enemy?"
+
+"To any of the great Chancelleries of Europe.  It is probably
+speeding on its way thither at the present instant as fast as
+steam can take it."
+
+Mr. Trelawney Hope dropped his head on his chest and groaned
+aloud.  The Premier placed his hand kindly upon his shoulder.
+
+"It is your misfortune, my dear fellow.  No one can blame you.
+There is no precaution which you have neglected.
+Now, Mr. Holmes, you are in full possession of the facts.
+What course do you recommend?"
+
+Holmes shook his head mournfully.
+
+"You think, sir, that unless this document is recovered there
+will be war?"
+
+"I think it is very probable."
+
+"Then, sir, prepare for war."
+
+"That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Consider the facts, sir.  It is inconceivable that it was taken
+after eleven-thirty at night, since I understand that Mr. Hope
+and his wife were both in the room from that hour until the loss
+was found out.  It was taken, then, yesterday evening between
+seven-thirty and eleven-thirty, probably near the earlier hour,
+since whoever took it evidently knew that it was there and would
+naturally secure it as early as possible.  Now, sir, if a
+document of this importance were taken at that hour, where can
+it be now?  No one has any reason to retain it.  It has been
+passed rapidly on to those who need it.  What chance have we now
+to overtake or even to trace it?  It is beyond our reach."
+
+The Prime Minister rose from the settee.
+
+"What you say is perfectly logical, Mr. Holmes.  I feel that the
+matter is indeed out of our hands."
+
+"Let us presume, for argument's sake, that the document was
+taken by the maid or by the valet ----"
+
+"They are both old and tried servants."
+
+"I understand you to say that your room is on the second floor,
+that there is no entrance from without, and that from within no
+one could go up unobserved.  It must, then, be somebody in the
+house who has taken it.  To whom would the thief take it?
+To one of several international spies and secret agents, whose
+names are tolerably familiar to me.  There are three who may be
+said to be the heads of their profession.  I will begin my
+research by going round and finding if each of them is at his
+post.  If one is missing -- especially if he has disappeared
+since last night -- we will have some indication as to where
+the document has gone."
+
+"Why should he be missing?" asked the European Secretary.
+"He would take the letter to an Embassy in London, as likely as not."
+
+"I fancy not.  These agents work independently, and their
+relations with the Embassies are often strained."
+
+The Prime Minister nodded his acquiescence.
+
+"I believe you are right, Mr. Holmes.  He would take so valuable
+a prize to head-quarters with his own hands.  I think that your
+course of action is an excellent one.  Meanwhile, Hope,
+we cannot neglect all our other duties on account of this one
+misfortune.  Should there be any fresh developments during the
+day we shall communicate with you, and you will no doubt let us
+know the results of your own inquiries."
+
+The two statesmen bowed and walked gravely from the room.
+
+When our illustrious visitors had departed Holmes lit his pipe
+in silence, and sat for some time lost in the deepest thought.
+I had opened the morning paper and was immersed in a sensational
+crime which had occurred in London the night before, when my
+friend gave an exclamation, sprang to his feet, and laid his
+pipe down upon the mantelpiece.
+
+"Yes," said he, "there is no better way of approaching it.
+The situation is desperate, but not hopeless.  Even now,
+if we could be sure which of them has taken it, it is just
+possible that it has not yet passed out of his hands.
+After all, it is a question of money with these fellows,
+and I have the British Treasury behind me.  If it's on the
+market I'll buy it -- if it means another penny on the income-tax.
+It is conceivable that the fellow might hold it back to see what
+bids come from this side before he tries his luck on the other.
+There are only those three capable of playing so bold a game;
+there are Oberstein, La Rothiere, and Eduardo Lucas.
+I will see each of them."
+
+I glanced at my morning paper.
+
+"Is that Eduardo Lucas of Godolphin Street?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You will not see him."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"He was murdered in his house last night."
+
+My friend has so often astonished me in the course of our
+adventures that it was with a sense of exultation that I
+realized how completely I had astonished him.  He stared in
+amazement, and then snatched the paper from my hands.  This was
+the paragraph which I had been engaged in reading when he rose
+from his chair:--
+
+
+                    "MURDER IN WESTMINSTER.
+
+"A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16,
+Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of
+eighteenth-century houses which lie between the river and the
+Abbey, almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of
+Parliament.  This small but select mansion has been inhabited
+for some years by Mr. Eduardo Lucas, well known in society
+circles both on account of his charming personality and because
+he has the well-deserved reputation of being one of the best
+amateur tenors in the country.  Mr. Lucas is an unmarried man,
+thirty-four years of age, and his establishment consists of
+Mrs. Pringle, an elderly housekeeper, and of Mitton, his valet.
+The former retires early and sleeps at the top of the house.
+The valet was out for the evening, visiting a friend at Hammersmith.
+From ten o'clock onwards Mr. Lucas had the house to himself.
+What occurred during that time has not yet transpired, but at
+a quarter to twelve Police-constable Barrett, passing along
+Godolphin Street, observed that the door of No. 16 was ajar.
+He knocked, but received no answer.  Perceiving a light in
+the front room he advanced into the passage and again knocked,
+but without reply.  He then pushed open the door and entered.
+The room was in a state of wild disorder, the furniture being
+all swept to one side, and one chair lying on its back in the
+centre.  Beside this chair, and still grasping one of its legs,
+lay the unfortunate tenant of the house.  He had been stabbed
+to the heart and must have died instantly.  The knife with which
+the crime had been committed was a curved Indian dagger, plucked
+down from a trophy of Oriental arms which adorned one of the
+walls.  Robbery does not appear to have been the motive of the
+crime, for there had been no attempt to remove the valuable
+contents of the room.  Mr. Eduardo Lucas was so well known and
+popular that his violent and mysterious fate will arouse painful
+interest and intense sympathy in a wide-spread circle of friends."
+
+"Well, Watson, what do you make of this?" asked Holmes,
+after a long pause.
+
+"It is an amazing coincidence."
+
+"A coincidence!  Here is one of the three men whom we had named
+as possible actors in this drama, and he meets a violent death
+during the very hours when we know that that drama was being
+enacted.  The odds are enormous against its being coincidence.
+No figures could express them.  No, my dear Watson, the two
+events are connected -- MUST be connected.  It is for us to find
+the connection."
+
+"But now the official police must know all."
+
+"Not at all.  They know all they see at Godolphin Street.
+They know -- and shall know -- nothing of Whitehall Terrace.
+Only WE know of both events, and can trace the relation between them.
+There is one obvious point which would, in any case, have turned
+my suspicions against Lucas.  Godolphin Street, Westminster,
+is only a few minutes' walk from Whitehall Terrace.  The other
+secret agents whom I have named live in the extreme West-end.
+It was easier, therefore, for Lucas than for the others to
+establish a connection or receive a message from the European
+Secretary's household -- a small thing, and yet where events are
+compressed into a few hours it may prove essential.
+Halloa! what have we here?"
+
+Mrs. Hudson had appeared with a lady's card upon her salver.
+Holmes glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it over to me.
+
+"Ask Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope if she will be kind enough to
+step up," said he.
+
+A moment later our modest apartment, already so distinguished
+that morning, was further honoured by the entrance of the most
+lovely woman in London.  I had often heard of the beauty of the
+youngest daughter of the Duke of Belminster, but no description
+of it, and no contemplation of colourless photographs, had
+prepared me for the subtle, delicate charm and the beautiful
+colouring of that exquisite head.  And yet as we saw it that
+autumn morning, it was not its beauty which would be the first
+thing to impress the observer.  The cheek was lovely, but it
+was paled with emotion; the eyes were bright, but it was the
+brightness of fever; the sensitive mouth was tight and drawn in
+an effort after self-command.  Terror -- not beauty -- was what
+sprang first to the eye as our fair visitor stood framed for an
+instant in the open door.
+
+"Has my husband been here, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Yes, madam, he has been here."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I implore you not to tell him that I came here."
+Holmes bowed coldly, and motioned the lady to a chair.
+
+"Your ladyship places me in a very delicate position.
+I beg that you will sit down and tell me what you desire;
+but I fear that I cannot make any unconditional promise."
+
+She swept across the room and seated herself with her back
+to the window.  It was a queenly presence -- tall, graceful,
+and intensely womanly.
+
+"Mr. Holmes," she said, and her white-gloved hands clasped and
+unclasped as she spoke -- "I will speak frankly to you in the
+hope that it may induce you to speak frankly in return.  There
+is complete confidence between my husband and me on all matters
+save one.  That one is politics.  On this his lips are sealed.
+He tells me nothing.  Now, I am aware that there was a most
+deplorable occurrence in our house last night.  I know that a
+paper has disappeared.  But because the matter is political my
+husband refuses to take me into his complete confidence.  Now it
+is essential -- essential, I say -- that I should thoroughly
+understand it.  You are the only other person, save only these
+politicians, who knows the true facts.  I beg you, then,
+Mr. Holmes, to tell me exactly what has happened and what it
+will lead to.  Tell me all, Mr. Holmes.  Let no regard for your
+client's interests keep you silent, for I assure you that his
+interests, if he would only see it, would be best served by
+taking me into his complete confidence.  What was this paper
+which was stolen?"
+
+"Madam, what you ask me is really impossible."
+
+She groaned and sank her face in her hands.
+
+"You must see that this is so, madam.  If your husband thinks
+fit to keep you in the dark over this matter, is it for me, who
+has only learned the true facts under the pledge of professional
+secrecy, to tell what he has withheld?  It is not fair to ask it.
+It is him whom you must ask."
+
+"I have asked him.  I come to you as a last resource.  But without
+your telling me anything definite, Mr. Holmes, you may do a great
+service if you would enlighten me on one point."
+
+"What is it, madam?"
+
+"Is my husband's political career likely to suffer through
+this incident?"
+
+"Well, madam, unless it is set right it may certainly have
+a very unfortunate effect."
+
+"Ah!"  She drew in her breath sharply as one whose doubts
+are resolved.
+
+"One more question, Mr. Holmes.  From an expression which my
+husband dropped in the first shock of this disaster I understood
+that terrible public consequences might arise from the loss of
+this document."
+
+"If he said so, I certainly cannot deny it."
+
+"Of what nature are they?"
+
+"Nay, madam, there again you ask me more than I can possibly answer."
+
+"Then I will take up no more of your time.  I cannot blame you,
+Mr. Holmes, for having refused to speak more freely, and you on
+your side will not, I am sure, think the worse of me because
+I desire, even against his will, to share my husband's anxieties.
+Once more I beg that you will say nothing of my visit."
+She looked back at us from the door, and I had a last impression
+of that beautiful haunted face, the startled eyes, and the drawn
+mouth.  Then she was gone.
+
+"Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department," said Holmes,
+with a smile, when the dwindling frou-frou of skirts had ended
+in the slam of the front door.  "What was the fair lady's game?
+What did she really want?"
+
+"Surely her own statement is clear and her anxiety very natural."
+
+"Hum!  Think of her appearance, Watson -- her manner,
+her suppressed excitement, her restlessness, her tenacity
+in asking questions.  Remember that she comes of a caste
+who do not lightly show emotion."
+
+"She was certainly much moved."
+
+"Remember also the curious earnestness with which she assured
+us that it was best for her husband that she should know all.
+What did she mean by that?  And you must have observed, Watson,
+how she manoeuvred to have the light at her back.  She did not
+wish us to read her expression."
+
+"Yes; she chose the one chair in the room."
+
+"And yet the motives of women are so inscrutable.  You remember
+the woman at Margate whom I suspected for the same reason.
+No powder on her nose -- that proved to be the correct solution.
+How can you build on such a quicksand?  Their most trivial action
+may mean volumes, or their most extraordinary conduct may depend
+upon a hairpin or a curling-tongs.  Good morning, Watson."
+
+"You are off?"
+
+"Yes; I will wile away the morning at Godolphin Street with our
+friends of the regular establishment.  With Eduardo Lucas lies
+the solution of our problem, though I must admit that I have not
+an inkling as to what form it may take.  It is a capital mistake
+to theorize in advance of the facts.  Do you stay on guard, my
+good Watson, and receive any fresh visitors.  I'll join you at
+lunch if I am able."
+
+
+All that day and the next and the next Holmes was in a mood
+which his friends would call taciturn, and others morose.
+He ran out and ran in, smoked incessantly, played snatches on
+his violin, sank into reveries, devoured sandwiches at irregular
+hours, and hardly answered the casual questions which I put to
+him.  It was evident to me that things were not going well with
+him or his quest.  He would say nothing of the case, and it was
+from the papers that I learned the particulars of the inquest,
+and the arrest with the subsequent release of John Mitton,
+the valet of the deceased.  The coroner's jury brought in the
+obvious "Wilful Murder," but the parties remained as unknown as
+ever.  No motive was suggested.  The room was full of articles
+of value, but none had been taken.  The dead man's papers had
+not been tampered with.  They were carefully examined,
+and showed that he was a keen student of international politics,
+an indefatigable gossip, a remarkable linguist, and an untiring
+letter-writer.  He had been on intimate terms with the leading
+politicians of several countries.  But nothing sensational was
+discovered among the documents which filled his drawers.  As to
+his relations with women, they appeared to have been promiscuous
+but superficial.  He had many acquaintances among them, but few
+friends, and no one whom he loved.  His habits were regular,
+his conduct inoffensive.  His death was an absolute mystery,
+and likely to remain so.
+
+As to the arrest of John Mitton, the valet, it was a counsel
+of despair as an alternative to absolute inaction.  But no case
+could be sustained against him.  He had visited friends in
+Hammersmith that night.  The ALIBI was complete.  It is true
+that he started home at an hour which should have brought him
+to Westminster before the time when the crime was discovered,
+but his own explanation that he had walked part of the way
+seemed probable enough in view of the fineness of the night.
+He had actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared to be
+overwhelmed by the unexpected tragedy.  He had always been on
+good terms with his master.  Several of the dead man's
+possessions -- notably a small case of razors -- had been found in
+the valet's boxes, but he explained that they had been presents
+from the deceased, and the housekeeper was able to corroborate
+the story.  Mitton had been in Lucas's employment for three
+years.  It was noticeable that Lucas did not take Mitton on the
+Continent with him.  Sometimes he visited Paris for three months
+on end, but Mitton was left in charge of the Godolphin Street
+house.  As to the housekeeper, she had heard nothing on the
+night of the crime.  If her master had a visitor he had himself
+admitted him.
+
+So for three mornings the mystery remained, so far as I could
+follow it in the papers.  If Holmes knew more he kept his own
+counsel, but, as he told me that Inspector Lestrade had taken
+him into his confidence in the case, I knew that he was in
+close touch with every development.  Upon the fourth day there
+appeared a long telegram from Paris which seemed to solve the
+whole question.
+
+"A discovery has just been made by the Parisian police," said
+the DAILY TELEGRAPH, "which raises the veil which hung round the
+tragic fate of Mr. Eduardo Lucas, who met his death by violence
+last Monday night at Godolphin Street, Westminster.  Our readers
+will remember that the deceased gentleman was found stabbed in
+his room, and that some suspicion attached to his valet, but
+that the case broke down on an ALIBI.  Yesterday a lady, who has
+been known as Mme. Henri Fournaye, occupying a small villa in
+the Rue Austerlitz, was reported to the authorities by her
+servants as being insane.  An examination showed that she had
+indeed developed mania of a dangerous and permanent form.
+On inquiry the police have discovered that Mme. Henri Fournaye
+only returned from a journey to London on Tuesday last, and there
+is evidence to connect her with the crime at Westminster.
+A comparison of photographs has proved conclusively that M. Henri
+Fournaye and Eduardo Lucas were really one and the same person,
+and that the deceased had for some reason lived a double life
+in London and Paris.  Mme. Fournaye, who is of Creole origin,
+is of an extremely excitable nature, and has suffered in the
+past from attacks of jealousy which have amounted to frenzy.
+It is conjectured that it was in one of these that she committed
+the terrible crime which has caused such a sensation in London.
+Her movements upon the Monday night have not yet been traced,
+but it is undoubted that a woman answering to her description
+attracted much attention at Charing Cross Station on Tuesday
+morning by the wildness of her appearance and the violence of
+her gestures.  It is probable, therefore, that the crime was
+either committed when insane, or that its immediate effect was
+to drive the unhappy woman out of her mind.  At present she
+is unable to give any coherent account of the past, and the
+doctors hold out no hopes of the re-establishment of her reason.
+There is evidence that a woman, who might have been Mme. Fournaye,
+was seen for some hours on Monday night watching the house in
+Godolphin Street."
+
+"What do you think of that, Holmes?"  I had read the account
+aloud to him, while he finished his breakfast.
+
+"My dear Watson," said he, as he rose from the table and paced
+up and down the room, "you are most long-suffering, but if I
+have told you nothing in the last three days it is because there
+is nothing to tell.  Even now this report from Paris does not
+help us much."
+
+"Surely it is final as regards the man's death."
+
+"The man's death is a mere incident -- a trivial episode -- in
+comparison with our real task, which is to trace this document
+and save a European catastrophe.  Only one important thing has
+happened in the last three days, and that is that nothing has
+happened.  I get reports almost hourly from the Government,
+and it is certain that nowhere in Europe is there any sign of
+trouble.  Now, if this letter were loose -- no, it CAN'T be
+loose -- but if it isn't loose, where can it be?  Who has it?
+Why is it held back?  That's the question that beats in my brain
+like a hammer.  Was it, indeed, a coincidence that Lucas should
+meet his death on the night when the letter disappeared?
+Did the letter ever reach him?  If so, why is it not among his
+papers?  Did this mad wife of his carry it off with her?  If so,
+is it in her house in Paris?  How could I search for it without
+the French police having their suspicions aroused?  It is a case,
+my dear Watson, where the law is as dangerous to us as the
+criminals are.  Every man's hand is against us, and yet the
+interests at stake are colossal.  Should I bring it to a
+successful conclusion it will certainly represent the crowning
+glory of my career.  Ah, here is my latest from the front!"
+He glanced hurriedly at the note which had been handed in.
+"Halloa!  Lestrade seems to have observed something of interest.
+Put on your hat, Watson, and we will stroll down together to
+Westminster."
+
+It was my first visit to the scene of the crime -- a high, dingy,
+narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century
+which gave it birth.  Lestrade's bulldog features gazed out at
+us from the front window, and he greeted us warmly when a big
+constable had opened the door and let us in.  The room into
+which we were shown was that in which the crime had been
+committed, but no trace of it now remained, save an ugly,
+irregular stain upon the carpet.  This carpet was a small square
+drugget in the centre of the room, surrounded by a broad expanse
+of beautiful, old-fashioned wood-flooring in square blocks
+highly polished.  Over the fireplace was a magnificent trophy
+of weapons, one of which had been used on that tragic night.
+In the window was a sumptuous writing-desk, and every detail of
+the apartment, the pictures, the rugs, and the hangings, all
+pointed to a taste which was luxurious to the verge of effeminacy.
+
+"Seen the Paris news?" asked Lestrade.
+
+Holmes nodded.
+
+"Our French friends seem to have touched the spot this time.
+No doubt it's just as they say.  She knocked at the door --
+surprise visit, I guess, for he kept his life in water-tight
+compartments.  He let her in -- couldn't keep her in the street.
+She told him how she had traced him, reproached him, one thing
+led to another, and then with that dagger so handy the end soon
+came.  It wasn't all done in an instant, though, for these
+chairs were all swept over yonder, and he had one in his hand as
+if he had tried to hold her off with it.  We've got it all clear
+as if we had seen it."
+
+Holmes raised his eyebrows.
+
+"And yet you have sent for me?"
+
+"Ah, yes, that's another matter -- a mere trifle, but the sort
+of thing you take an interest in -- queer, you know, and what
+you might call freakish.  It has nothing to do with the main
+fact -- can't have, on the face of it."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"Well, you know, after a crime of this sort we are very careful
+to keep things in their position.  Nothing has been moved.
+Officer in charge here day and night.  This morning, as the man
+was buried and the investigation over -- so far as this room is
+concerned -- we thought we could tidy up a bit.  This carpet.
+You see, it is not fastened down; only just laid there.  We had
+occasion to raise it.  We found ----"
+
+"Yes?  You found ----"
+
+Holmes's face grew tense with anxiety.
+
+"Well, I'm sure you would never guess in a hundred years what we
+did find.  You see that stain on the carpet?  Well, a great deal
+must have soaked through, must it not?"
+
+"Undoubtedly it must."
+
+"Well, you will be surprised to hear that there is no stain on
+the white woodwork to correspond."
+
+"No stain!  But there must ----"
+
+"Yes; so you would say.  But the fact remains that there isn't."
+
+He took the corner of the carpet in his hand and, turning it over,
+he showed that it was indeed as he said.
+
+"But the underside is as stained as the upper.  It must have
+left a mark."
+
+Lestrade chuckled with delight at having puzzled the famous expert.
+
+"Now I'll show you the explanation.  There IS a second stain,
+but it does not correspond with the other.  See for yourself."
+As he spoke he turned over another portion of the carpet, and
+there, sure enough, was a great crimson spill upon the square
+white facing of the old-fashioned floor.  "What do you make of
+that, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Why, it is simple enough.  The two stains did correspond,
+but the carpet has been turned round.  As it was square and
+unfastened it was easily done."
+
+"The official police don't need you, Mr. Holmes, to tell them
+that the carpet must have been turned round.  That's clear enough,
+for the stains lie above each other -- if you lay it over this way.
+But what I want to know is, who shifted the carpet, and why?"
+
+I could see from Holmes's rigid face that he was vibrating with
+inward excitement.
+
+"Look here, Lestrade," said he, "has that constable in the
+passage been in charge of the place all the time?"
+
+"Yes, he has."
+
+"Well, take my advice.  Examine him carefully.  Don't do it
+before us.  We'll wait here.  You take him into the back room.
+You'll be more likely to get a confession out of him alone.
+Ask him how he dared to admit people and leave them alone in this
+room.  Don't ask him if he has done it.  Take it for granted.
+Tell him you KNOW someone has been here.  Press him.  Tell him
+that a full confession is his only chance of forgiveness.
+Do exactly what I tell you!"
+
+"By George, if he knows I'll have it out of him!" cried Lestrade.
+He darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying
+voice sounded from the back room.
+
+"Now, Watson, now!" cried Holmes, with frenzied eagerness.
+All the demoniacal force of the man masked behind that listless
+manner burst out in a paroxysm of energy.  He tore the drugget
+from the floor, and in an instant was down on his hands and
+knees clawing at each of the squares of wood beneath it.
+One turned sideways as he dug his nails into the edge of it.
+It hinged back like the lid of a box.  A small black cavity
+opened beneath it.  Holmes plunged his eager hand into it,
+and drew it out with a bitter snarl of anger and disappointment.
+It was empty.
+
+"Quick, Watson, quick!  Get it back again!"  The wooden lid was
+replaced, and the drugget had only just been drawn straight when
+Lestrade's voice was heard in the passage.  He found Holmes
+leaning languidly against the mantelpiece, resigned and patient,
+endeavouring to conceal his irrepressible yawns.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Holmes.  I can see that you are
+bored to death with the whole affair.  Well, he has confessed,
+all right.  Come in here, MacPherson.  Let these gentlemen hear
+of your most inexcusable conduct."
+
+The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.
+
+"I meant no harm, sir, I'm sure.  The young woman came to the
+door last evening -- mistook the house, she did.  And then we
+got talking.  It's lonesome, when you're on duty here all day."
+
+"Well, what happened then?"
+
+"She wanted to see where the crime was done -- had read about
+it in the papers, she said.  She was a very respectable,
+well-spoken young woman, sir, and I saw no harm in letting her
+have a peep.  When she saw that mark on the carpet, down she
+dropped on the floor, and lay as if she were dead.  I ran to the
+back and got some water, but I could not bring her to.  Then I
+went round the corner to the Ivy Plant for some brandy, and by
+the time I had brought it back the young woman had recovered and
+was off -- ashamed of herself, I dare say, and dared not face me."
+
+"How about moving that drugget?"
+
+"Well, sir, it was a bit rumpled, certainly, when I came back.
+You see, she fell on it, and it lies on a polished floor with
+nothing to keep it in place.  I straightened it out afterwards."
+
+"It's a lesson to you that you can't deceive me, Constable
+MacPherson," said Lestrade, with dignity.  "No doubt you thought
+that your breach of duty could never be discovered, and yet a
+mere glance at that drugget was enough to convince me that
+someone had been admitted to the room.  It's lucky for you,
+my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find yourself in
+Queer Street.  I'm sorry to have called you down over such a
+petty business, Mr. Holmes, but I thought the point of the second
+stain not corresponding with the first would interest you."
+
+"Certainly, it was most interesting.  Has this woman only been
+here once, constable?"
+
+"Yes, sir, only once."
+
+"Who was she?"
+
+"Don't know the name, sir.  Was answering an advertisement about
+type-writing, and came to the wrong number -- very pleasant,
+genteel young woman, sir."
+
+"Tall?  Handsome?"
+
+"Yes, sir; she was a well-grown young woman.  I suppose you
+might say she was handsome.  Perhaps some would say she was
+very handsome.  `Oh, officer, do let me have a peep!' says she.
+She had pretty, coaxing ways, as you might say, and I thought there
+was no harm in letting her just put her head through the door."
+
+"How was she dressed?"
+
+"Quiet, sir -- a long mantle down to her feet."
+
+"What time was it?"
+
+"It was just growing dusk at the time.  They were lighting the
+lamps as I came back with the brandy."
+
+"Very good," said Holmes.  "Come, Watson, I think that we have
+more important work elsewhere."
+
+As we left the house Lestrade remained in the front room,
+while the repentant constable opened the door to let us out.
+Holmes turned on the step and held up something in his hand.
+The constable stared intently.
+
+"Good Lord, sir!" he cried, with amazement on his face.
+Holmes put his finger on his lips, replaced his hand in his
+breast-pocket, and burst out laughing as we turned down the street.
+"Excellent!" said he.  "Come, friend Watson, the curtain rings
+up for the last act.  You will be relieved to hear that there
+will be no war, that the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope will
+suffer no set-back in his brilliant career, that the indiscreet
+Sovereign will receive no punishment for his indiscretion, that
+the Prime Minister will have no European complication to deal
+with, and that with a little tact and management upon our part
+nobody will be a penny the worse for what might have been a very
+ugly incident."
+
+My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
+
+"You have solved it!" I cried.
+
+"Hardly that, Watson.  There are some points which are as dark
+as ever.  But we have so much that it will be our own fault if
+we cannot get the rest.  We will go straight to Whitehall
+Terrace and bring the matter to a head."
+
+When we arrived at the residence of the European Secretary it
+was for Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope that Sherlock Holmes inquired.
+We were shown into the morning-room.
+
+"Mr. Holmes!" said the lady, and her face was pink with her
+indignation,  "this is surely most unfair and ungenerous upon
+your part.  I desired, as I have explained, to keep my visit to
+you a secret, lest my husband should think that I was intruding
+into his affairs.  And yet you compromise me by coming here and
+so showing that there are business relations between us."
+
+"Unfortunately, madam, I had no possible alternative.  I have
+been commissioned to recover this immensely important paper.
+I must therefore ask you, madam, to be kind enough to place
+it in my hands."
+
+The lady sprang to her feet, with the colour all dashed in an
+instant from her beautiful face.  Her eyes glazed -- she
+tottered -- I thought that she would faint.  Then with a grand
+effort she rallied from the shock, and a supreme astonishment
+and indignation chased every other expression from her features.
+
+"You -- you insult me, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"Come, come, madam, it is useless.  Give up the letter."
+
+She darted to the bell.
+
+"The butler shall show you out."
+
+"Do not ring, Lady Hilda.  If you do, then all my earnest efforts
+to avoid a scandal will be frustrated.  Give up the letter and
+all will be set right.  If you will work with me I can arrange
+everything.  If you work against me I must expose you."
+
+She stood grandly defiant, a queenly figure, her eyes fixed upon
+his as if she would read his very soul.  Her hand was on the
+bell, but she had forborne to ring it.
+
+"You are trying to frighten me.  It is not a very manly thing,
+Mr. Holmes, to come here and browbeat a woman.  You say that you
+know something.  What is it that you know?"
+
+"Pray sit down, madam.  You will hurt yourself there if you fall.
+I will not speak until you sit down.  Thank you."
+
+"I give you five minutes, Mr. Holmes."
+
+"One is enough, Lady Hilda.  I know of your visit to Eduardo
+Lucas, of your giving him this document, of your ingenious
+return to the room last night, and of the manner in which you
+took the letter from the hiding-place under the carpet."
+
+She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she
+could speak.
+
+"You are mad, Mr. Holmes -- you are mad!" she cried, at last.
+
+He drew a small piece of cardboard from his pocket.  It was the
+face of a woman cut out of a portrait.
+
+"I have carried this because I thought it might be useful,"
+said he.  "The policeman has recognised it."
+
+She gave a gasp and her head dropped back in the chair.
+
+"Come, Lady Hilda.  You have the letter.  The matter may
+still be adjusted.  I have no desire to bring trouble to you.
+My duty ends when I have returned the lost letter to your husband.
+Take my advice and be frank with me; it is your only chance."
+
+Her courage was admirable.  Even now she would not own defeat.
+
+"I tell you again, Mr. Holmes, that you are under some absurd
+illusion."
+
+Holmes rose from his chair.
+
+"I am sorry for you, Lady Hilda.  I have done my best for you;
+I can see that it is all in vain."
+
+He rang the bell.  The butler entered.
+
+"Is Mr. Trelawney Hope at home?"
+
+"He will be home, sir, at a quarter to one."
+
+Holmes glanced at his watch.
+
+"Still a quarter of an hour," said he.  "Very good, I shall wait."
+
+The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda
+was down on her knees at Holmes's feet, her hands out-stretched,
+her beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.
+
+"Oh, spare me, Mr. Holmes!  Spare me!" she pleaded, in a frenzy
+of supplication.  "For Heaven's sake, don't tell him!  I love
+him so!  I would not bring one shadow on his life, and this I
+know would break his noble heart."
+
+Holmes raised the lady.  "I am thankful, madam, that you have
+come to your senses even at this last moment!  There is not an
+instant to lose.  Where is the letter?"
+
+She darted across to a writing-desk, unlocked it, and drew out
+a long blue envelope.
+
+"Here it is, Mr. Holmes.  Would to Heaven I had never seen it!"
+
+"How can we return it?" Holmes muttered.  "Quick, quick,
+we must think of some way!  Where is the despatch-box?"
+
+"Still in his bedroom."
+
+"What a stroke of luck!  Quick, madam, bring it here!"
+
+A moment later she had appeared with a red flat box in her hand.
+
+"How did you open it before?  You have a duplicate key?
+Yes, of course you have.  Open it!"
+
+From out of her bosom Lady Hilda had drawn a small key.
+The box flew open.  It was stuffed with papers.  Holmes thrust
+the blue envelope deep down into the heart of them, between
+the leaves of some other document.  The box was shut, locked,
+and returned to the bedroom.
+
+"Now we are ready for him," said Holmes; "we have still ten
+minutes.  I am going far to screen you, Lady Hilda.  In return
+you will spend the time in telling me frankly the real meaning
+of this extraordinary affair."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, I will tell you everything," cried the lady.
+"Oh, Mr. Holmes, I would cut off my right hand before I gave him
+a moment of sorrow!  There is no woman in all London who loves her
+husband as I do, and yet if he knew how I have acted -- how I have
+been compelled to act -- he would never forgive me.  For his own
+honour stands so high that he could not forget or pardon a lapse
+in another.  Help me, Mr. Holmes!  My happiness, his happiness,
+our very lives are at stake!"
+
+"Quick, madam, the time grows short!"
+
+"It was a letter of mine, Mr. Holmes, an indiscreet letter
+written before my marriage -- a foolish letter, a letter of an
+impulsive, loving girl.  I meant no harm, and yet he would have
+thought it criminal.  Had he read that letter his confidence
+would have been for ever destroyed.  It is years since I wrote it.
+I had thought that the whole matter was forgotten.  Then at last
+I heard from this man, Lucas, that it had passed into his hands,
+and that he would lay it before my husband.  I implored his mercy.
+He said that he would return my letter if I would bring him a
+certain document which he described in my husband's despatch-box.
+He had some spy in the office who had told him of its existence.
+He assured me that no harm could come to my husband.  Put yourself
+in my position, Mr. Holmes!  What was I to do?"
+
+"Take your husband into your confidence."
+
+"I could not, Mr. Holmes, I could not!  On the one side seemed
+certain ruin; on the other, terrible as it seemed to take my
+husband's paper, still in a matter of politics I could not
+understand the consequences, while in a matter of love and trust
+they were only too clear to me.  I did it, Mr. Holmes!  I took
+an impression of his key; this man Lucas furnished a duplicate.
+I opened his despatch-box, took the paper, and conveyed it to
+Godolphin Street."
+
+"What happened there, madam?"
+
+"I tapped at the door as agreed.  Lucas opened it.  I followed
+him into his room, leaving the hall door ajar behind me, for I
+feared to be alone with the man.  I remember that there was a
+woman outside as I entered.  Our business was soon done.  He had
+my letter on his desk; I handed him the document.  He gave me
+the letter.  At this instant there was a sound at the door.
+There were steps in the passage.  Lucas quickly turned back the
+drugget, thrust the document into some hiding-place there, and
+covered it over.
+
+"What happened after that is like some fearful dream.
+I have a vision of a dark, frantic face, of a woman's voice,
+which screamed in French, `My waiting is not in vain.  At last,
+at last I have found you with her!'  There was a savage struggle.
+I saw him with a chair in his hand, a knife gleamed in hers.
+I rushed from the horrible scene, ran from the house, and only
+next morning in the paper did I learn the dreadful result.
+That night I was happy, for I had my letter, and I had not seen
+yet what the future would bring.
+
+"It was the next morning that I realized that I had only
+exchanged one trouble for another.  My husband's anguish at the
+loss of his paper went to my heart.  I could hardly prevent
+myself from there and then kneeling down at his feet and telling
+him what I had done.  But that again would mean a confession of
+the past.  I came to you that morning in order to understand the
+full enormity of my offence.  From the instant that I grasped it
+my whole mind was turned to the one thought of getting back my
+husband's paper.  It must still be where Lucas had placed it,
+for it was concealed before this dreadful woman entered the
+room.  If it had not been for her coming, I should not have
+known where his hiding-place was.  How was I to get into the
+room?  For two days I watched the place, but the door was never
+left open.  Last night I made a last attempt.  What I did and
+how I succeeded, you have already learned.  I brought the paper
+back with me, and thought of destroying it since I could see no
+way of returning it, without confessing my guilt to my husband.
+Heavens, I hear his step upon the stair!"
+
+The European Secretary burst excitedly into the room.
+
+"Any news, Mr. Holmes, any news?" he cried.
+
+"I have some hopes."
+
+"Ah, thank heaven!"  His face became radiant.  "The Prime
+Minister is lunching with me.  May he share your hopes?  He has
+nerves of steel, and yet I know that he has hardly slept since
+this terrible event.  Jacobs, will you ask the Prime Minister
+to come up?  As to you, dear, I fear that this is a matter of
+politics.  We will join you in a few minutes in the dining-room."
+
+The Prime Minister's manner was subdued, but I could see by
+the gleam of his eyes and the twitchings of his bony hands
+that he shared the excitement of his young colleague.
+
+"I understand that you have something to report, Mr. Holmes?"
+
+"Purely negative as yet," my friend answered.  "I have inquired
+at every point where it might be, and I am sure that there is no
+danger to be apprehended."
+
+"But that is not enough, Mr. Holmes.  We cannot live for ever
+on such a volcano.  We must have something definite."
+
+"I am in hopes of getting it.  That is why I am here.
+The more I think of the matter the more convinced I am
+that the letter has never left this house."
+
+"Mr. Holmes!"
+
+"If it had it would certainly have been public by now."
+
+"But why should anyone take it in order to keep it in his house?"
+
+"I am not convinced that anyone did take it."
+
+"Then how could it leave the despatch-box?"
+
+"I am not convinced that it ever did leave the despatch-box."
+
+"Mr. Holmes, this joking is very ill-timed.  You have my
+assurance that it left the box."
+
+"Have you examined the box since Tuesday morning?"
+
+"No; it was not necessary."
+
+"You may conceivably have overlooked it."
+
+"Impossible, I say."
+
+"But I am not convinced of it; I have known such things to happen.
+I presume there are other papers there.  Well, it may have got
+mixed with them."
+
+"It was on the top."
+
+"Someone may have shaken the box and displaced it."
+
+"No, no; I had everything out."
+
+"Surely it is easily decided, Hope," said the Premier.
+"Let us have the despatch-box brought in."
+
+The Secretary rang the bell.
+
+"Jacobs, bring down my despatch-box.  This is a farcical waste
+of time, but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall
+be done.  Thank you, Jacobs; put it here.  I have always had the
+key on my watch-chain.  Here are the papers, you see.  Letter
+from Lord Merrow, report from Sir Charles Hardy, memorandum from
+Belgrade, note on the Russo-German grain taxes, letter from
+Madrid, note from Lord Flowers -- good heavens! what is this?
+Lord Bellinger!  Lord Bellinger!"
+
+The Premier snatched the blue envelope from his hand.
+
+"Yes, it is it -- and the letter is intact.  Hope, I congratulate you."
+
+"Thank you!  Thank you!  What a weight from my heart.  But this
+is inconceivable -- impossible.  Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard,
+a sorcerer!  How did you know it was there?"
+
+"Because I knew it was nowhere else."
+
+"I cannot believe my eyes!"  He ran wildly to the door.
+"Where is my wife?  I must tell her that all is well.
+Hilda!  Hilda!" we heard his voice on the stairs.
+
+The Premier looked at Holmes with twinkling eyes.
+
+"Come, sir," said he.  "There is more in this than meets the eye.
+How came the letter back in the box?"
+
+Holmes turned away smiling from the keen scrutiny of those
+wonderful eyes.
+
+"We also have our diplomatic secrets," said he, and picking up
+his hat he turned to the door.
+---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+End of Project Gutenberg etext of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"
+[Magazine Edition]
+
+
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