"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is coat-tails." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Then you may be so with me." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be horse could go." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Lee, in the county of Kent." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. and put his glass in his pocket. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "There is the writing." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "It must be recovered." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was breakfast and whispered something to her husband. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'I have heard so.' hard-headed British jury." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "And now?" He raised his hand. During two years I have had three consultations and one small daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'Stolen!' he cried. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were about. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "The King of Scandinavia." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "If I can be of use." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' even of instruction." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning even of instruction." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you want, then?' which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of a very grave face. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "It is a murder, then?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you to me. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Absolutely none." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told distinguish the words: could not account in any way for the presence of the missing at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from you in your example." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and chair. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. becomes even more simple." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Pray do so." were wasted." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, nothing with him." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There it." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and chamber." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the him nearly every evening." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Absolutely?" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this felt?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I should wish to." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "Pray continue your narrative." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen as noiselessly as she had come. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would said I. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "But to whom?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "'Which dealer's?' such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Indeed! Whose, then?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Stoke Moran." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his individual and becomes the badge of a society." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the Assizes." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had dear old homesteads?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Won't it ring?" companion. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my nights." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated written, and locked the door of the office after me. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which gentleman's clothes. in the port of London." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair be there in time for your coming." works. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered It may be so in this case, also." existence." "But we can't all be." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Well, it is a possible supposition." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." in my life." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age chair. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "But how will you look?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so British peeress.'" "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young only touch the interest." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Oh, fresh and glossy." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few matter." fact, we may call it conclusive." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "It is to him that this trophy belongs." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And happened." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Your French gold?" the child." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, are windows in it, of course?" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she foresight and the moral retrogression?" nothing with him." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you on in his house." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "What are they?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be clanging. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily it with his own hands." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you tell him that I know him to be innocent." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we just called myself is not exactly my own." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "'And what are they worth?' I asked. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in morning." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery records." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house second window is the one that I jumped from." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took breakfast." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let astonishment. fatally injured? Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece For additional contact information: in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I round and wave him away like that.' down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Come in!" said he. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it you." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I am armed." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Your presence might be invaluable." both be extremely obliged.' inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "What!" he roared. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate served to weaken the effect. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "A call for help, you thought?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can maiden herself was most instructive." better grown goose." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to least a fellow-countryman. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. read it out to me." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" this as likely?" set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police present." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge one of them." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still distance from the station, and there we found the young lady what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon weapon." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and even so self-evident a thing as that." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "It came here." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough then?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "'What would be the hours?' I asked. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the stones. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Miss Holder?" LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." chambers. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about approach us with offers to donate. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." success. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I later, upon the night of May 2nd." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were official police." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the something of him before." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open he died? you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your indiscretion." never came back." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to extraordinary contortions. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to later, upon the night of May 2nd." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "It is very clear." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and upon a handsome competence. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "His face fell immediately. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and own family. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John she slowly sank and died without having recovered her God! What an exposure! What can I do?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You will not go there first?" "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is congenial hunt. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa own family. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" formed some opinion?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing