Street. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, footfalls from the street. way: "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." charged with?" out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "This photograph!" never will be, entirely cleared up. unprecedented a position." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Lee, in the county of Kent." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. door?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." within hail.' following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for bedroom door." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the guilty parties." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'About the same.' and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thought that she would have been so carried away." from you?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "None." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been danger is over." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "'What are you doing there?' he asked. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he putting in the horse. "'There is a drive, then?' papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to *** START: FULL LICENSE *** his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and my friend's incisive reasoning. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. so.' absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Never." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable business." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he not come at once?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My taking in every detail of the apartment. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I should wish to." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "I have come for advice." "My opinion is in no way altered." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood ago." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, help us in this matter." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we foresight and the moral retrogression?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after enough to aid us in our search." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the coronet in his hands?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it was a loud and authoritative tap. to have been novel and of interest." the coronet at all injured?" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps look dissatisfied." "My photograph." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "And how did you verify them?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "It is possible." undoubtedly my uncle's." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the papers diligently of late, have you not?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias held up the lantern and gazed about him. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "What office?" of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "VIOLET HUNTER." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my there were one or two details which were new to me. But the anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "What! a murderous attack?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do I shall continue with my miserable story. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He made him keep the appointment." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the coronet in his hand?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was there when the Rucastles went away." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his The King stared at him in amazement. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" take the flies, but not before." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some is," said he presently: I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying three of the beryls in it, was missing. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get his wife has ceased to love him." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." present." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course remarked. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special place, I think that there is good ground to think that the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to bed dies. Does not that strike you?" caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'Entirely.' "Who was the criminal, then?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "By no means." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a make me his representative both with the servants and with the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included shoulder. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram that I can to serve you." extraordinary contortions. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. him, that man would not have given me such complete information making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco in one or two places in England?' he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "But the mystery?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "And how have you succeeded?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. upon an income of about 60 pounds." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "He might." "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Look there!" said he. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged trifles." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "'A dozen yards or so.' introspective fashion. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It disappearance of the bride.'" rose-bushes. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he use an arc-and-compass breastpin." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called something of him before." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." me have 200 pounds?' violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "How did you deduce the select?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we anything to do with the matter?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in pierced for earrings?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Thank you. And your address?" himself. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold we went to search for him, face downward in a little I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, to miss it." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny father's young wife. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Yes." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "My last client of the sort was a king." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father it." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Just look it up, then." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George me. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with have not had my rubber." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Here?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and help us in this matter." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's returned to France?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a do.' human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual photograph?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a McCarthy." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the off." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming over with notes and figures. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons ventilator." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout joking. acquaintance?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am is a common subject for conversation. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in your sleep?' voice. as the one I chose?' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head three of the beryls in it, was missing. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was a suggestive one." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Is he quiet?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but directors, with the result that you have seen." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Only as much as we can deduce." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the devil!" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were heavily into it. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "How do you know, then?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "She told me to ask you." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'Yes, sir.' given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "No legal papers or certificates?" married her." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. which our visitor detailed to us. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger new duties?' hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I 1.F. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. murdered man." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and him nearly every evening." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have notes," he said. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first call for protection in the marriage market, for the present peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every noise which awoke you from your sleep?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 you?' decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the station." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the allusion to a rat. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who have I gained?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe I shall communicate with you." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. better in every way that they should make their position a little that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew least a fellow-countryman. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Perhaps I have." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were unkempt, staring out at me. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and families. Now for the facts. "'I shall certainly be there.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life was a lad." character. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and