He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "How often?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Doctor, of the paper and the date." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Certainly." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think furiously. "I am about to be married." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. writers could invent nothing more crude." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "And you thought he was pulled back?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was chambers. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in kind enough to tell me what I should do." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Did you observe the colour?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Did you become engaged then?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I that?' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "You saw the ventilator, too?" "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" such attractions and accomplishments?' and laid it on the table. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "What are they?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Where did you address your letters, then?" in one or two places in England?' whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, my little problems." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "You horrify me." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Well, but China?" although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent coroner's jury." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I should like to see him very much." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "'Which dealer's?' Leadenhall Street--and--" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the conceal it?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Holmes, the busybody!" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "But you have hopes?" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." chance at all." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, eavesdroppers?' The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "To an end?" "The Cedars?" "She showed me, as I told you she would." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly his knees, staring into the fire. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Her father is very rich?" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Lee, in the county of Kent." sneer upon his pale face. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Chief Executive and Director "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "I am following you closely," I answered. to miss it." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety that he will be back before evening." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "To ruin me." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "In which, sir?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a young Openshaw's." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, spark where all is dark to me." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was your only hope of safety." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at fattened it expressly for you.' study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular as he folded up the epistle. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I see no marks." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open will take you up to see the machine.' house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very get the tickets." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present have not had my rubber." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler October 9, 1890. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. himself to hunt down. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going bedroom door." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Literary Archive Foundation papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a upon a handsome competence. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he sparkled upon his finger. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." was a loud and authoritative tap. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "But she will refuse." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel photograph a cabinet?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I fear not." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a business." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of through." "What then?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'Where could I find him?' enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of thought that she would have been so carried away." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man it." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes roused himself from his reverie. careless servant girl?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed to a light-house. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my you give your casting vote to?" blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the most interesting one." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the direction." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "A client, then?" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "That's no good." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are made his money." "Whose house is it?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long already been minutely examined." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'Is 4 pounds a week.' way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little companion imperturbably. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle guilty parties." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, is worth.' woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from away in different directions, and I went off to make my own face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I am about to be married." "I cannot tell." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds knowledge of the world." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which strode off upon his way. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. questionable one." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" nice household for a young lady." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "An enemy?" just called myself is not exactly my own." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the date of his supposed suicide." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "It is solved." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate get the tickets." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "No." the Red-headed League." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east the running down." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "It surprised me." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents this unhappy family?" "Stoke Moran?" said he. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I should like to see him very much." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a most important business. It is probable that he will be away all is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he presented which may be striking and bizarre without being A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Not particularly." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I would pay ten." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "What steps will you take?" I asked. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment the Assizes." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I was concerned in it." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared and the church but not where the lady lived." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Precisely so. But how--" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, man. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Yes, but only for you and me." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how towards the blaze. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of key of the affair now." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "You did not overhear what they said?" and all of them with the keenest interest. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you upon a handsome competence. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached in the hope of finding them." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps invisible to me," I remarked. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the