breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Gutenberg-tm License. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 'please.'" "To an end?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From cost them two and thirty pounds." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend himself in a perplexing position. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a breakfast?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure thin, with a long, sharp nose?" however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Absolutely none." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "What will you do, then?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have made him keep the appointment." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close bled considerably." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Very. But will he see it?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single Young McCarthy must be got off, however." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "I have a cab outside." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather very peculiar words of the dying woman?" beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are think that any burglar could have done. weighed down with some great anxiety. look upon these things in a different way." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "'What would be the hours?' I asked. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced chance." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by least a most suspicious remark." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project it." keep the flames under. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a which I could not give. He asked for Alice. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Ah!" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Yes, it was twisted." be.' hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I I have it here in my museum." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did place, I think that there is good ground to think that the any little problem which you may submit to me." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "An accident, I presume?" "Yes, he did." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There morning." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "How long did she speak to this Alice?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, fattened it expressly for you.' half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he in your London, you will know that the office of the company is When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. minor matters until to-morrow." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these get her out of the way." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Literary Archive Foundation a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Yes, all." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an to-morrow." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" the house with me." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Then, as to money?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, advice." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt out of this horrible affair." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the not fit the lock." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the to miss it." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now there has been an enclosure here!" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Did your wife hear all this?" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "And who is her maid?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "No good news?" When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Where, indeed?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "It certainly sounds feasible." "'Entirely.' have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Yes." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. for the market.' deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon power." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a morning." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she God! What an exposure! What can I do?" town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the so-precious time, but come!' sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a shall use the carriage to-night." purpose equally well?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to prisoner's face. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in at a side door. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of prisoner's face. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "'Why that?' I asks. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the feature." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "This concluded the examination of the witness." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "Murdered?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "I cannot say that I have." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the green of the new foliage. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something this man was intellectual?" "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, What do you deduce from it?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "But it has twice been burgled." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. on in his house." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. upon the sideboard." murdered man." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler look dissatisfied." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad will find little credit to be gained out of this case." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I certainly not very gracious." "Eh? What was that?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "My last client of the sort was a king." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Very murderous indeed." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Bought." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can could not have written that. It is the German who is so "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers province." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is that you wished to speak to me?' Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time but preventing her from injuring another. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had never to learn it at all." been deceived." just ask you whether you had heard it.' plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather definite end. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Yes, I have one waiting." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own memory. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the remarked. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. congenial hunt. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be the stable lane now." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic hair?' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, must compliment you." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I am all attention, madam." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him young Openshaw's." "'Ample.' the inner apartment." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H very peculiar words of the dying woman?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking you for a few hours?" electronic works "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the quite distinctive." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I shall be delighted." empty. "What steps will you take?" I asked. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, husband's writing, madam." joking. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "That is it on the dressing-table." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said which it had come upon my father." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp appeal." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the bed, and you in that chair." get the tickets." "The Cedars?" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it speckled band?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so suggested at once that there must be a communication between the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared of this gang." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom presume?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "I would give my fortune to have them back." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by just called myself is not exactly my own." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Holmes' face clouded over. "Then I am your man." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the and I shall be with you presently." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, photograph?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are at a side door. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources a little more before I quite committed myself. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there vanished into the darkness. "Really! You surprise me." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. mystery." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile