o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! legal crime." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And help." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, it." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a British peeress.'" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with McCarthy's innocence. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "But he might be a bachelor." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the fuss that is made over them." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "My dear Holmes!" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn heavily into it. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from place, I think that there is good ground to think that the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Dark enough and sinister enough." possible that we could bring him back to her? is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the very morning of the wedding." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "That is possible." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "My dear Holmes!" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "At what time?" to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Well?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so definite end. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "No legal papers or certificates?" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing some terrible trap for her." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the coronet in his hands?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I was a perfect sample of the class. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "'Yes, it was gone.' was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Yes, it would be as well." was it brought him the coronet? "You have compromised yourself seriously." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by woman who has had her own way to make in the world. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. records." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed go--none." "Yes, that is the Crown." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "No, thank goodness, she did not." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There weigh very heavily upon my conscience." hands. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Now, then, what's the last entry?" and laid it on the table. weighed down with some great anxiety. horse could go." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture the so-precious time, but come!' "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the would apply.' get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major she slowly sank and died without having recovered her claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had fat-encircled eyes. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy use an arc-and-compass breastpin." would then never go into court at all." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "You think so, too?" to you." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Why did you pick him?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "That was it, sir." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter and put his glass in his pocket. chair. Farm upon the left." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "To an English lawyer named Norton." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "And leave your case unfinished?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "And I." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite tell me that you intended to go into harness." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate enter into my head. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' there." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of hand, madam?" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Yes." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up tapping his fingers upon the table. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "This concluded the examination of the witness." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood someone who had been in Australia." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." weapon." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "My stepfather's business papers." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but might help us?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Sutherland?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." correct than the official force." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "What I expected to see." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "'Entirely.' "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, annoyance, but no jest. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Holmes' room. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "That is possible." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I should like to see him very much." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Pope's Court. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I you want, then?' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to him nearly every evening." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. points to suicide?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Not social, then?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "He might." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be him. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Never to return." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel any." even of instruction." open." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, signal between you and your father? set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, next day. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle cigars in the box." before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Perfectly so." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. forebodings. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable matter." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug God! What an exposure! What can I do?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their the inner apartment." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I promise," said Holmes. had died away into the silence from which it rose. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he tell him that I know him to be innocent." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "9th. McCauley cleared. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and golden eyeglasses. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's mysterious end." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you and effective." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation shoulder. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's and it need not interfere very much with one's other had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking Mrs. Toller serenely. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "So I heard. You have him here?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is morning." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." him, that man would not have given me such complete information correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small London for the present?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'In my own bureau.' The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Street. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. shoulder. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did place of silver." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat garden below. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and burst out into a roar of laughter. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should forecastle of an emigrant ship. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "And I." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "'What then?' I asked. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that answer." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "'Is 4 pounds a week.' unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. had formerly been in part my own. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "My own seal." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the of Fenchurch Street." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been six. Come in!" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "One?" sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been returning from some small jollification and was making his way "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Upon what point?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "And Irene Adler?" "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Did you become engaged then?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was prove to be little relation between the different incidents of case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Watson," he said cordially. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come following enigmatical notices: "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day