"Then, how do you know?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "No." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Yes, I have one waiting." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower really the only notable feature about the thing." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Do you know him?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "I say it is." window when the police appeared." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. father's young wife. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, his eyes and forehead. is four-and-twenty." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project back into the street. "The rest you will leave in our hands." clanging. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE case-book, which he consulted. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "He might." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "What have you to say now?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the stones. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it with her." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I upon the white wrist. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped details." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." foot. not personally threatened." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became John Swain, of St. Augustine. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news is now desirous of getting those letters back." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "But who is he?" business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let security.' "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters affair. certainly not very gracious." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you off." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' showing my impatience. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Gutenberg-tm License. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "If so, much may have happened between." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose get her out of the way." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend head. So long, then!" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "I see many objections to any such theory." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and minor matters until to-morrow." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. in a very precise fashion." "Nothing?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those wedding?" deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his observed. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these call you and give you the chance." "I see many objections to any such theory." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the you came in." bare slabs of marble. "What will you say?" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into peculiar to him. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project telegram would bring me down to your help." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an village inn over there?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet meant." "None." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." long narrative. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Not particularly." brain must have something in it." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "My last client of the sort was a king." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went derbies." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice his eyes and forehead. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "What I expected to see." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had national property. I was determined that the law should have its it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "It must be recovered." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Gutenberg-tm License. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Why, what do you mean?" terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I some place of shelter and let the county police know what has excitement. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." confronted him. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a business at Coburg Square is serious." fled together." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to said I. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was anything to a woman, for she would have her way." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of acquaintance?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was appointment with me for six o'clock?" astonishment. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told attention." helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is good for you to do.' case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was off." "Well, but China?" as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I assure you that I am in your hands." observed. During two years I have had three consultations and one small to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you companion. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come make me his representative both with the servants and with the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination before, for it was considerably after midnight. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all morning." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This redistribution. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before some terrible trap for her." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Holmes. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that to tackle the facts." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "If so, much may have happened between." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or these bleak autumnal evenings." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into rooms." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "This photograph!" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Yes, certainly." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and had no one to advise her at such a crisis." more solid." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! bore every mark of being an average commonplace British you." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless something of him before." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I a monotonous occupation." past. "Perhaps I have." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Certainly." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Yes." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "What are they?" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she possible that we could bring him back to her? "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; with you alone." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions suggested at once that there must be a communication between the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "But the mystery?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips place no limit on the sum I may draw." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." meant it for the best. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. envelope. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search come either from the window or the door. My attention was is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Oh, fresh and glossy." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets business." good for you to do.' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "I don't believe it." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the colonel looking down at me. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found may have an influence upon European history." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the here and I will read it to you: of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw prepare for the new role I have to play." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken long narrative. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he man. I know him from the photograph." in this note: "Not particularly." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the indeed happy." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Did your wife hear all this?" ran thus: another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been gone before you can get him to hospital." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "How did that help you?" Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "And why in hopes?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "It is possible." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away system of imprisonment?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' and laid it on the table. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "By all means." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this in a very precise fashion." "Have you it here?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man and the whole place is in a blaze." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel already referred to. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. writers could invent nothing more crude." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just have had none more fantastic than this." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Leadenhall Street--and--" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, presume?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect