It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "'Quite sure, dad.' company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the stable lane now." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, photograph?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in criminal. We have already had experience of such." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built wanted for ourselves." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "What?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can client, rising. Munro.' Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "And how in the world did you find them?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "That was it, sir." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." sound at heart." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "It is true that I have been generally successful." Farm upon the left." fishes. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." been." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall own family. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door ill-usage at the hands of fortune. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an assist you in forming an opinion." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your bachelor.' pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter with you?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to she slowly sank and died without having recovered her His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. to-night." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Entirely." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose constraint." at once, for I have only half an hour." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As true." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. may have an influence upon European history." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you allusion to a rat. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Your French gold?" and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Game for a morning drive?" after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." had died away into the silence from which it rose. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "And when will you call?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Have you it here?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his upon an income of about 60 pounds." when you have done it." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how tear off another piece?' Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Where is it, then?" wall." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you train.' "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some know that the truth is known." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "And from a noble client?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "I will get her to show me." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured http://gutenberg.net/license). over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is matter over." asked. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a wedding?" fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. is worth.' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't someone who had been in Australia." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with towards the blaze. his fortune, and I went back to pa. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a outside. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster directors have had misgivings upon the subject." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until know what is wrong with it.' 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, along the entire front of the house, with three long windows face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for details should find their way into the papers. Inspector side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the are, I think, all that we need." "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor legal crime." depend upon your compliance." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "If so, much may have happened between." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler hurried away. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "And I." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Quite so." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's for and were ordered to this address. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, him and tried to hold him back. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." I leave." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "But he might be a bachelor." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress will be renamed. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him hands. "He is still with you, I presume?" really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Was there a secret marriage?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'Oh, no.' which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Do you go out much in society?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, His smile broadened. his forehead." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not him." "Quite so. She has her freedom." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Do you receive much company?" he asked. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house followed. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I think it very unlikely." "Only as much as we can deduce." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his nice household for a young lady." "One of his hands." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Pope's Court. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Come in!" said he. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she have not had my rubber." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a way: "What steps will you take?" I asked. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the best of training." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." it." "'About the same.' I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to searched, without anything being found which could incriminate coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to a more successful conclusion." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "I don't believe it." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "A greater distance to travel." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem invisible to me," I remarked. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble I have it here in my museum." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "And how did you find out?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Did you observe the colour?" away into the river." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "And you can do nothing until then?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Absolutely?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Will you go?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "You horrify me." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That success. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly annoyance, but no jest. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Gutenberg-tm License. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Miss Holder?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the purpose equally well?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My must be when I saw the door open.' perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "ARAT," I read. said he at last. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "He might." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "He might." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "That is easily got." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Then I shall certainly come." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the was it brought him the coronet? first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him at my own good fortune. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his I nodded to show that I had heard. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" I nodded to show that I had heard. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked once more for Briony Lodge. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!"