and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Yes?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may with you alone." "Always." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Come in!" said Holmes. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "And that is--" "I have a cab outside." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and suspect him." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is bearing upon the case." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt before, for it was considerably after midnight. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "I do." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question joking. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the relief. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are it." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "How do you know, then?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "No?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Certainly." go from here to the Strand." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set matter over." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet orange pips. head. So long, then!" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. very morning of my second wedding." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and helping a boy to put up the shutters. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "On the contrary, this is the right side." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a strength in the others." go back?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Not particularly." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Do you receive much company?" he asked. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right I think that I could be of assistance to you." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Yes?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "What!" he roared. very old mansion. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Frequently." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Holmes rather sternly. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was country, and eventually married, without anyone having a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. seem to you to be relevant or not." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for public press." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "So I am. Very much so." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "That sounds a little paradoxical." cause to be." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means may never be exposed to such a temptation." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "And you can do nothing until then?" it were putty." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years wedding?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I will not look." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "What?" "I never have." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his instincts rose up against that laugh. "A greater distance to travel." "'I have already given you my word.' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, seen the man in the road." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather McCarthy." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Quite so. She has her freedom." "The gentleman I describe." "Why did you pick him?" Miss Holder?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the you understand?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the meant." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A tied." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Stolen, then." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door in the dead of the night?' "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite there were so many in the whole country as were brought together key of the affair now." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is one or two very singular points about this room. For example, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Who was the criminal, then?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "I have come for advice." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his purpose equally well?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Imitated." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" compunction about shooting them down." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "What are they?" settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the photograph?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, indeed which he could not unravel. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all not, dad?" she asked. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with he bowed and left the room without another word. the inner apartment." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we once more to my work. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all followed. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the stones. chill to my heart. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, to a more successful conclusion." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go them present such singular features as the strange train of never to learn it at all." "A call for help, you thought?" breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the present." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he compunction about shooting them down." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Holmes rather sternly. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden appeared upon the scene." becomes even more simple." husband's writing, madam." written. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal ceremony." the one as in the other." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On a very grave face. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Yes." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "You are certainly joking, Holmes." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "What steps will you take?" I asked. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "One?" to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, burst into a hearty fit of laughter. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "How did that help you?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "How did that help you?" "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have again, where I was soon asleep. writers could invent nothing more crude." "Did you observe the colour?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and in a very precise fashion." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "I cannot imagine." "'Yes, sir.' that before taking the final step I should like to submit the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "And what then?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "And help." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the closing the door. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to client, rising. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "'And what are they worth?' I asked. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. you in your example." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Mary, has deserted me." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "How did you trace it, then?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "My dear Holmes!" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. of Fenchurch Street." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, quick march!" nights." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "One of his hands." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some business?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the written, and locked the door of the office after me. me. You must get home instantly and act." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is up this clue while it is still hot." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin plantation.' maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the Friday. Was it to be in church?" said I. "What then?" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, thirty. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock lamp in his hand. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw cup of tea. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five again on its way. "You have the photograph?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "The King of Scandinavia." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your better in every way that they should make their position a little about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Where, then, is my wife?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, see a sister of mine apply for." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "At half-wages, in fact." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his said I. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Yes, at the mines." you, my dear young lady?' "To ruin me."