was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain companion imperturbably. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Not I." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is what I may call a really hard day's work." "It looks newer than the other things?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and himself in a perplexing position. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of works. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that despaired of." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Have you her photograph?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the side-table." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a he. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a row." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "And for present expenses?" better in every way that they should make their position a little brandy and water within his reach. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Which are?" at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a of." "He slept on the premises." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a business." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp constraint." unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "And how did you find out?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Leadenhall Street--and--" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" closely." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. south, for the country is more deserted there." "And your father? Did you tell him?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." these bleak autumnal evenings." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" My friend smiled. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible into the bag, and made for the door. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found intrusion of other matters." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "I don't believe it." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his child?' had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this that he will be back before evening." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? matters immensely." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Did he not advertise?" been able to understand it, in a very few words. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an fluttered off among the others. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out power." little trying to do so much typewriting?" brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I lumber-room." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the south-west, I see." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was particular state visit http://pglaf.org considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Surrey." "In which, sir?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "It is possible." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Then he might have called to you?" "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door feature." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, it with his own hands." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Your sister is dead, then?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned said I. there in twenty minutes." I was concerned in it." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him present." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of License. You must require such a user to return or into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may lost nothing by them." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "None." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "By train from Waterloo." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less been deceived." "The murder was done with it." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the train.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "10th. John Swain cleared. "Never." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "But he might be a bachelor." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right in the hope of finding them." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have is," said he presently: "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can galvanised. present." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "I will not look." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in answered with a sidelong glance. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter asked. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept It was close upon four before the door opened, and a better in every way that they should make their position a little Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another bore every mark of being an average commonplace British instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Then the page we have seen--" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "To the police?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. think that he is innocent?" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' becomes even more simple." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "It's nothing of the kind." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." existence." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy place of silver." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and sake, don't!" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. not within a twentieth part of the market price." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "No, but the enclosure is." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at that you wished to speak to me?' have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a deduce something from that?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Lee, in the county of Kent." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "And for present expenses?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "May I see it?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but had died away into the silence from which it rose. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "How can you tell that?" were wasted." a little more before I quite committed myself. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a outbreak?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "He said too much." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and such attractions and accomplishments?' spare." "She walked into the breakfast-room." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so true." returned to France?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She never came back." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "No sign of it?" detective. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to tell." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account chemical work which was so dear to him. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "I see no marks." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his lost nothing by them." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the Friday. Was it to be in church?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Why, what do you mean?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe matter over." at home. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Do you receive much company?" he asked. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the if she died from some sudden fright." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the your billet.' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: go back?" "From his hat?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he light and attacked it." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and whether it answered to the description of any of their this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and client, rising. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley hour?' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a people in all walks of life. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Whose house is it?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his chamber." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank him!" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the over part of the map. "What do you read?" success. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. rose-bushes. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." later, upon the night of May 2nd." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the populous neighbourhood." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Married! When?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed meant it for the best. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and was a lad." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice himself. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out absolutely follow my advice in every respect." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late his fortune, and I went back to pa. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow to affect your life." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom do.' truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black of his shoulders. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside coroner's jury." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Nothing." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be enter Dr. Roylott's room." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of