aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "No, I am descending." to some other building. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all 'I should be able to look after that for you.' likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "When did she vanish, then?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he little adventures." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and again." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been and looked back. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not crime. power." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of October 9, 1890. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "I will get her to show me." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "But not more so than I to find you." "But what is it you wish?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. other lovers by making love himself." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we which should have the effect of calling the attention of the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get tell him that I know him to be innocent." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but that you saw all that I did." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, here." "My dear Holmes!" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he and put his glass in his pocket. "Stoke Moran?" said he. who was a member of your goose club." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" bill, which interests me deeply." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if from the brougham. once more. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and up this clue while it is still hot." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set question. "Seven!" I answered. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to thin legs towards the fire. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "And I to find an enemy." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Yes." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "But you would not advise me to refuse?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or back alive. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet his fortune, and I went back to pa. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out ago." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to him!" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "What! You do not mean bodies?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small Stoke Moran." "In which, sir?" get the tickets." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Which surely he restored to their owner?" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Certainly." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been upon the white wrist. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "No?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." which are rolled in Rotterdam." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and was a perfect sample of the class. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "On your arm?" And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom before the coroner and the police-court." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the astonishment. at a side door. crime. "Did your wife hear all this?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." colonel looking down at me. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of hour?' blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Certainly." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Here?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "I will, Miss Turner." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he bearing upon the case." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Dark enough and sinister enough." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible License. You must require such a user to return or still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and 11:15.' the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, your billet.' without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this were unconscious?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Pray tell us what has happened to you." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Yes, it was twisted." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb think that any burglar could have done. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is fled together." "And why?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, father's young wife. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I should like to see him very much." in a very precise fashion." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic eat it." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. it were putty." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped the roots. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Yesterday." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. emerged. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "What then?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Again Holmes raved in the air. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless in the hope of finding them." it with his own hands." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. way in." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. it. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of could go. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to quite distinctive." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'Which dealer's?' clanging. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. through." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that relief. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." the inquest, and which are worth considering." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Breckinridge is his name." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took time." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence asked with his eyes open. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "ARAT," I read. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with you want, then?' importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must appointment with me for six o'clock?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "My opinion is in no way altered." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the soul! here is her carriage at the door." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Do you know him?" "The murder was done with it." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, speckled band?" "Of Friday, June 19th." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." correct than the official force." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." character. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money is worth.' Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Ample." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a it means?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the call for it in person on Monday morning.' so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I touch that coronet?' "Very murderous indeed." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' despaired of." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might you?' spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "A thing like a cleaver," said he. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Tired-looking or fresh?" there when the Rucastles went away." strength." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his married her." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria meanly of me." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with second." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" down. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "I say it is." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "But how will you look?" "Of Friday, June 19th." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "How are you getting on?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts pressing in one house as in another. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "I have solved it." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he some water from a caraffe. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his my friend's incisive reasoning. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I shall be delighted." "Yes, sir." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the matter." "What shall I do?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" unprecedented a position."