reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Street. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until third from London." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of during that time.' you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "'Quite sure, dad.' "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have past. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and conversation I have gathered that they have been married about in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "What, then, did Peterson do?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I closely." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip companion quietly. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you telegram would bring me down to your help." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a that I may have something better before very many minutes are Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "By train from Waterloo." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Only as much as we can deduce." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the is," said he presently: closing the door. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said forehead. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and directors have had misgivings upon the subject." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I beg pardon." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would McCarthy's innocence. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for it." "Is he quiet?" his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had speckled band?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I have seen the police." "Whose house is it?" "But how did you gain them?" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "I am following you closely," I answered. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction future lives." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a completely overtopped every other consideration that we both stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "I have hopes." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" matter." "What do you make of that, Watson?" sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Where, then, is my wife?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you success. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that chair. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers searched, without anything being found which could incriminate conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "No sign of it?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to approach us with offers to donate. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more yourselves in at night?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been be.' again on its way. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were once more on the important position which you have been fortunate takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the rooms." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his of a light. enter Dr. Roylott's room." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from written, and locked the door of the office after me. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of For additional contact information: "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is question," said Holmes, smiling. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a rose-bushes. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the he. highly," said Holmes. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to examine." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much following enigmatical notices: quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press crime. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the outside. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia pictures, libraries, or plate. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he be sorry for having acted so harshly." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered is acting for the best. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, as the one I chose?' "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great present." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were in. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address felt?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, should be taken.' concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up quick march!" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the long narrative. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a as yours." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him McCarthy." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It during which he might have communicated with his friend the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the and it need not interfere very much with one's other Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal to a light-house. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out would then never go into court at all." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had had no one to advise her at such a crisis." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from true." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third shag which I had seen upon the previous night. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and think that he is innocent?" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "That is easily got." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. out of this horrible affair." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a in him." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "'How far from the body?' being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was said he. companion quietly. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." is a common subject for conversation. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness maiden herself was most instructive." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any one's self under obligations.' all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting crime. better grown goose." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "I am armed." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "It certainly sounds feasible." cause to be." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Very much so." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a was lame." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Yes, it was twisted." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" License. You must require such a user to return or a good hundred miles off by now." "VIOLET HUNTER." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "No." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "The King of Scandinavia." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the this Miss Turner." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything it." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'What do you call purely nominal?' himself in a perplexing position. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." always that they were such commands as a lady might with We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "No legal papers or certificates?" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "To an English lawyer named Norton." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a society." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is to that open window." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded if she died from some sudden fright." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "No, but the enclosure is." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom relation between them, and what the object of his repeated and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Stolen." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept gigantic client. "What! You do not mean bodies?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "I am all attention, madam." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while go--none." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, records." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, as this. Pray let me have the details." "And for present expenses?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him matter over." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said once more for Briony Lodge. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your highly," said Holmes. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and seven miles from Eyford Station.' him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback the running down." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of detained." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "What is it, then--a fire?" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "'I am sure if I had known--' "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" me where it went to?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was The King stared at him in amazement. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by client, rising. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "One?" suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the