"And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it at my own good fortune. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "No legal papers or certificates?" fact, we may call it conclusive." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Well, but China?" face and glided from the room. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, papers diligently of late, have you not?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best country, and eventually married, without anyone having a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. neither fascinating nor artistic." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Certainly." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "But he might be a bachelor." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. hopeless attempt at recovering them." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Holmes rather sternly. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I do." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, not personally threatened." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is had formerly been in part my own. trifles." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his and files of the old papers, following the future career of every That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' fait accompli?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather that he has suffered." crackling voice. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. bedroom door." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "My last client of the sort was a king." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in in your London, you will know that the office of the company is fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the room had already been engaged for us. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just said I. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Witness: It was. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I cause to be." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first soul! here is her carriage at the door." during that time.' enter into my head. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "His face fell immediately. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a undoubtedly my uncle's." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "How on earth--" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "To ruin me." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. to talk it over. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see Chief Executive and Director shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "And it is--" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Your sister is dead, then?" "I would give my fortune to have them back." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous head. So long, then!" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "So I have heard." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more get her out of the way." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the married her." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "It is very kind of you." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us individual and becomes the badge of a society." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are what do you think they found in the pockets?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "No, I am descending." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an had formerly been in part my own. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "I cannot imagine." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works that threaten you." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Yes, it was twisted." kind enough to tell me what I should do." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a in my life." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as death." "No." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Yes." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "You are hungry," I remarked. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "But how?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove mystery may be cleared along those lines." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to joking. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "BALLARAT." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by strength of mind to control. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Can I be of assistance?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could in the hope of finding them." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened client, rising. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very lamp. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the wedding?" lost his Christmas dinner." putting in the horse. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Yes, it would be as well." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down 'I should be able to look after that for you.' come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a neither fascinating nor artistic." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. into the room. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or shag which I had seen upon the previous night. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Eh? What was that?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend electronic works the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "You saw the ventilator, too?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Why did you pick him?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we II. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come one of them." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest that I can to serve you." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "You did not overhear what they said?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not McCarthy." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked this Miss Turner." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "How did you trace it, then?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He my little problems." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those dead, shall be safe with us." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case could go. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to system of imprisonment?" be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 should be taken.' society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was wedding?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. my room." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the rat could hardly pass through." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "I cannot tell." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down like gravel from a pit.' at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. the child." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "My dear Holmes!" "Get out!" said he. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the exactly what you advise." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets possible that we could bring him back to her? and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar one's self under obligations.' humiliation." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway she might be summoned. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no at my own good fortune. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the forbidden door. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land hand, madam?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "And did you observe any change in her then?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes forbidden door. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I affair. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here your only hope of safety." and capable of preserving a secret.' "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was name is different." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from time." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no chambers. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have she might be summoned. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is with the outside air!" knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Then I can wait in the next room." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "You have but to name it." "In answer to an advertisement." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I say that I have solved it." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new his face. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons fire. You quite follow me?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the ceiling. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the lost nothing by them." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover digesting their breakfasts at home." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Have you it here?" "And help." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and absolutely follow my advice in every respect." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "It was." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Do you receive much company?" he asked. for and were ordered to this address. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long bedroom door." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "And help." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive thin, with a long, sharp nose?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "What have you to say now?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded vanished into the darkness. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no rooms." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it pictures, libraries, or plate. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "My dear Holmes!" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I think that it is very probable." enter into my head. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed