of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the morning and make my own way in the world.' feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Yes, sir." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is putting in the horse. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "None. Neville wrote those words." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I came to find a friend." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so meant it for the best. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect weary and pale-looking. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the said I. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was come either from the window or the door. My attention was elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from man. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided a very grave face. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "No." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would will not take me long to tell. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'Yes, I promise.' at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Certainly." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." that he will be back before evening." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "But how?" bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Nothing?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of compunction about shooting them down." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the side-table." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Absolutely?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Yes, only one." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were weapon." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he him." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open garden below. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really bearing upon the case." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "We were both in the photograph." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their tassel actually lying upon the pillow. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any may have an influence upon European history." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in thirty. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "I will try. What is it?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to gone. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to ordinary clothes on?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and your relations to her." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project once more. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to thought that she would have been so carried away." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. think, you have already met." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I fear not." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "My last client of the sort was a king." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "I do." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very very morning of my second wedding." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of ventilator." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." points to suicide?" there is a decided draught." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. I leave." the best of training." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "That was it, sir." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical written. I took the paper from him and read as follows: he. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will a little more before I quite committed myself. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. has little to do with my story." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "'I have heard so.' The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the in this note: "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "But we can't all be." was not a bird to be seen there. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, a suggestive one." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very corner of the building. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest tied." "No, thank goodness, she did not." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, had this final quarrel? doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I have seen the police." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." be. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Yes, sir." "What shall I do?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not him!" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "'Certainly not.' "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The Miss Holder?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the address that was given us in the advertisement. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest reach." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Get out!" said he. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "I beg pardon." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "What are they?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "You think so, too?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "What I expected to see." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He intimate personal affairs in this public manner." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of pound a week." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Lestrade of Scotland Yard." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Then he might have called to you?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Lestrade of Scotland Yard." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "And it is--" or in danger--" strong and stiff." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. tension within him. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. and your relations to her." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'Most admirably.' ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what ordinary clothes on?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at comes from the middle window." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the house with me." be there in time for your coming." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to who was a member of your goose club." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "How on earth--" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled lost his Christmas dinner." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." night.' said he. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "He is still with you, I presume?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." signal between you and your father? run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "He might." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." habit of advancing money.' copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon there were so many in the whole country as were brought together named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of meant." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than prisoner's face. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As towards the blaze. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am begin with, and I had not got mine yet." ways of our fellow-men." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and business." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been constraint." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what unprofitable." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out and your relations to her." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full disappearance of the bride.'" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into it means?" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not was a perfect sample of the class. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my definite end. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to you." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the iron safe, which he closed upon it. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic floor. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no it with his own hands." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how knowledge of the world." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the written, and locked the door of the office after me. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "So it appears." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or answer." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should shadow pass over his face as I spoke. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "And how did you find out?" "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "I am sure." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." place no limit on the sum I may draw." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he hour?' "Entirely." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "You have the photograph?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in very old mansion. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet