subject to the trademark license, especially commercial the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "But how?" of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had 'I should be able to look after that for you.' vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I in your London, you will know that the office of the company is train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the coroner come to?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Certainly." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Yes." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in light and attacked it." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to lamp in his hand. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "What I expected to see." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been to-night?' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "'Yes, it was gone.' that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing writers could invent nothing more crude." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was look dissatisfied." "What I expected to see." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, him. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society forecastle of an emigrant ship. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of tail." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "I was afraid that you were engaged." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was read it out to me." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Always." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his are, and they are waiting for us." gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "But it has twice been burgled." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Get out!" said he. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of ways of our fellow-men." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. said I. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Not in a good cause." I shall continue with my miserable story. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by not interfere, come what may. You understand?" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Awake, Watson?" he asked. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of and inquire as to the address." obstinate." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "That is possible." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Did you observe the colour?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Why did you beat the pavement?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a heavily into it. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Where, then?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the present." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "You know me, then?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "I would pay ten." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between ordinary clothes on?" "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling already referred to. that there was nothing in it, after all." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: that there was nothing in it, after all." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." them, and came down just as you departed. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Certainly not.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was will be renamed. down. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my of the efforts of the United States government and of the better made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "ARAT," I read. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and case-book, which he consulted. showing my impatience. "Just look it up, then." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own vanished into the darkness. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad me. You must get home instantly and act." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this astonishment. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George to-night." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "To the police?" keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Precisely so. But how--" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread even of instruction." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could country, and eventually married, without anyone having a woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "But you have hopes?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, vault. "Very truly yours, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was call you and give you the chance." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which your billet.' a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having main points of my analysis." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "One horse?" interjected Holmes. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "I am armed." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Pray do so." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "'About the same.' without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. some terrible trap for her." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such did not hear it also.' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "My last client of the sort was a king." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward from you?" course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Were they all fastened this morning?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the arrested. You then--" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, October 9, 1890. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank of it with the greatest attention. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning very old mansion. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the lamp in his hand. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Perfectly so." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had From what you have told me I think that it is possible that 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Yes, it was twisted." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "'And what are they worth?' I asked. know what is wrong with it.' helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Certainly." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial hardly wander." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a of the one which your family is now devouring." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "No." union?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "No good news?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the matter?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'Which dealer's?' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to my room." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "I shall be delighted." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. interest. They are important, you understand, without being overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Absolutely none." was a loud and authoritative tap. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the loss of it. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "No." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I have hopes." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the me." infinite languor in his face. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, details." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate too. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Pool. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "I will get her to show me." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no there is a decided draught." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire anything to do with the matter?" "Yes." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "In the cells." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Then I can wait in the next room." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "I have solved it." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City call for it in person on Monday morning.' ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal best detective that ever lived. asked. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close went to the Alpha were town bred." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and there in twenty minutes." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Stoke Moran?" said he. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Then I do not see the point." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is as the one I chose?' "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "So I heard. You have him here?" it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may you." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly crime." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most showing my impatience. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, with you alone." it." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "I say that I have solved it." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking night.' said he. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Yes." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "My Mary? Impossible!" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the business matters.' "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and again on its way. "Why did you pick him?" have established a very serious case against the son of the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long in the hope of finding them." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual.