a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in noting anything else of interest. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "That is unusual in a young girl." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in late." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." you?' He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my society." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the had died away into the silence from which it rose. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "How often?" those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "BALLARAT." foresight and the moral retrogression?" morning." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "It is very clear." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and perplexity from it to my illustrious client. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Why serious?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Then I can wait in the next room." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most province." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he you, my dear young lady?' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "I assure you that I am in your hands." it." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "I beg pardon." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand least a fellow-countryman. "No, but the enclosure is." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "No, but the enclosure is." congratulate you again." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "And what did you learn from him?" conduct the inquiry." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Quite so." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." seven miles from Eyford Station.' open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." I am not easy in my mind about them." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of to a light-house. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the stable lane now." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, felt?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little own family. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "What will you say?" this poor creature." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and strong and stiff." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well the best of training." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive villagers almost as much as their master. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of it right.' "Has he come with you to-night?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by The summons was a brief and urgent one. "No." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Was he the only applicant?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "When did she vanish, then?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the inner apartment." spare." States. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "How do you know, then?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "So I heard. You have him here?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the will be renamed. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. room?" fashion which was peculiar to him. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the one as in the other." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key bearing upon the case." "I would pay ten." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, help us in this matter." door?" than was visible to me." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "And now?" He raised his hand. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, was already answered. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "And when will you call?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the kind enough to tell me what I should do." business." other, as fresh and trim as possible. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking hurried away. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, ordinary clothes on?" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "What then?" "'Ten to two.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "By no means." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. papers diligently of late, have you not?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "No, my brougham is waiting." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to comes from the middle window." His name is Francis Prosper." "Just look it up, then." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the and no precautions can guard against." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Yes, it was twisted." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "The Coroner: What do you mean? piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "That's no good." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and seen the man in the road." "Yes, the wine-cellar." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Arthur Conan Doyle "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much quick march!" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner of them has the shutters up.' conclusions. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Can I be of assistance?" quite distinctive." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out mystery." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business best detective that ever lived. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was nothing of it?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Come in!" said he. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he I am not easy in my mind about them." "Perhaps I have." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. have had none more fantastic than this." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "'Never,' said I. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a The summons was a brief and urgent one. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' there in twenty minutes." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Stolen, then." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive undoubtedly my uncle's." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we awaited us upon the table. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "No." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try feature." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "Seven!" I answered. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start joking. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As triumphant cloud from his cigarette. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to upon a handsome competence. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed seem to you to be relevant or not." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger gone before you can get him to hospital." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "What then?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an with frightened eyes at his accuser. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. allusion to a rat. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "And why?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "In heaven's name, what for?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Whose house is it?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. nonsense.' business in the City. She little knew what. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "The landlord of the Alpha." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily wedding?" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which letters?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss than was visible to me." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, there was no need for father to know." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your The summons was a brief and urgent one. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls straightened it out again. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found use an arc-and-compass breastpin." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first were unconscious?" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Very well, sir. And this stone?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, that, and I came down." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Entirely." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." have accepted such a situation. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute here and I will read it to you: "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two examination of the premises, but without finding anything which through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical all that?" It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my not interfere, come what may. You understand?" chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have paper in the air. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were III. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." success. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." investigation." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the away to you." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel shoulder. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin such person." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Well?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I should like to see him very much." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he