Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "But his lameness?" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the of receipt of the work. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "The King of Scandinavia." which it had come upon my father." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the ceiling. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you Countess of Morcar's?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over some water from a caraffe. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "That is not always so easy." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my me. You must get home instantly and act." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." lumber-room." "Thank you. Pray proceed." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "'Ten to two.' Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought that there was nothing in it, after all." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might eat it." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "'Quite sure, dad.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his the general public were present, then?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his coroner's jury." quickly through a disagreeable task. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one already been minutely examined." "'What do you call purely nominal?' "What office?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on your co-operation." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "And when will you call?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My down from London to inquire more deeply into it." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. the Red-headed League." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "They are typewritten," I remarked. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, with frightened eyes at his accuser. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. with her." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for other, as fresh and trim as possible. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Always." "May I see it?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in read it out to me." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in legal crime." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "May I see it?" "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard bed dies. Does not that strike you?" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "And leave your case unfinished?" instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would lamp. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and memory. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "But of what society?" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Absolutely none." but preventing her from injuring another. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum good for you to do.' "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "We must have a cab." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Eyford." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can telegram would bring me down to your help." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth think that any burglar could have done. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Dr. Becher's." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative question," said Holmes, smiling. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked must compliment you." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a salesman. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered DAMAGE. Holmes." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as situation." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a crackling voice. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's have not had my rubber." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "This concluded the examination of the witness." do." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." way in." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "An enemy?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let for the market.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker do." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." served to weaken the effect. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Not I." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his troubles have been weighing upon his mind. matters immensely." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, over here." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always his forehead." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." over here." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some empty. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they chill to my heart. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been fat-encircled eyes. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked corner of the building. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "10th. John Swain cleared. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one a very grave face. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who stood on the top of it. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have as the one I chose?' paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the window, rose as we entered. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere ourselves in the office." and have this put in the evening papers." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of not within a twentieth part of the market price." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole present." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I get her out of the way." extraordinary contortions. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. had formerly been in part my own. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is outside." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a cigar and let me expound." that he has suffered." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Because he was handy and would come cheap." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I her also." success. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "What then?" was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after late!' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran back to my heart. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." invisible to me," I remarked. that there was nothing in it, after all." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured side. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Always." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said American. Then who could this American be, and why should he dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid light and attacked it." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "We must sit without light. He would see it through the He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Here?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the morning and make my own way in the world.' enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been written, and locked the door of the office after me. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled foresight and the moral retrogression?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "You horrify me." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small in him." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and little trying to do so much typewriting?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises in darkness. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the noting anything else of interest. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I guilty one." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the nursery. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity dead, shall be safe with us." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the towards the blaze. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon unclasping of his long thin hands. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" closely." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to a light-house. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "Certainly." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. words came to my lips. "And for present expenses?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some help us in this matter." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." that threaten you." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" spark where all is dark to me." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he of Mr. Rucastle's." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, II. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and copied or distributed: Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Was she in good spirits?" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her chemical work which was so dear to him. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned strong reason behind." one of them." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever woman." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be wife's character?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "You have compromised yourself seriously." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "But she could not love him." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. pressing in one house as in another. "I would give my fortune to have them back." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for