extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to than to us. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were should be so warm over such a trifle." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "No good news?" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As breakfast?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "I cannot say that I have." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Ha! you find it so?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "What?" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. correct than the official force." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "No?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I guilty parties." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and noise which awoke you from your sleep?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very your equipment. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "No bad?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "I promise," said Holmes. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend cheerful." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Then I do not see the point." tell them apart.' push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness you found me to-night--and running through the front room she means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a to his chemical studies. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Holmes, the busybody!" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "The rest you will leave in our hands." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy to tackle the facts." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Entirely." should be taken.' "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are there was no need for father to know." "You think so, too?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "None." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work the room while you explain this matter?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "Witness: I must still refuse. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Holmes. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Lee, in the county of Kent." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned some place of shelter and let the county police know what has as the one I chose?' other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no his wife has ceased to love him." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain interested in these little problems, and since you are good it were putty." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim there has been an enclosure here!" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Bought." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Well." "So I heard. You have him here?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert four million human beings all jostling each other within the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Stolen, then." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the at my own good fortune. seen the man in the road." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, already referred to. prepare for the new role I have to play." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and clang of the bell. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there himself to tell his story. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" foot. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that to talk it over. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." tear off another piece?' the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then with the outside air!" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "You have but to name it." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help recover the gem." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all photograph a cabinet?" with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug public press." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "It is solved." ceremony." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the this remarkable episode. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. to you." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose advice." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two my room." "What then?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be who was a member of your goose club." key of the affair now." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have friends, not even his own brother. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Countess of Morcar's?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "My opinion is in no way altered." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I held up the lantern and gazed about him. "How did that help you?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the matter." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal was the fact that his father should, according to his account, do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Was the window open?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice been anything against him. He had for years been known as a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back said he. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw legal crime." "But your client--" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of have accepted such a situation. danger is over." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." not personally threatened." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Heh?' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was clanging. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the to have been novel and of interest." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, them?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and that the gas is not laid on in his house?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" them?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the little adventures." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my goes." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the not come at once?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who knowledge of the world." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the The summons was a brief and urgent one. dead, shall be safe with us." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. during that time.' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a said he, "my real name is James Ryder." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began is worth.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "And Irene Adler?" "In San Francisco, a year ago." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "What then?" upon the white wrist. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better fish-monger and a tide-waiter." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your held up the lantern and gazed about him. who was a member of your goose club." occurred." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast page at http://pglaf.org strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society if I call to-morrow?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and him." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "You were travelling in the States?" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Nothing." at my remark. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and started for the Temple to see my husband. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I bled considerably." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble direction." pictures, libraries, or plate. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "And when will you call?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been really the only notable feature about the thing." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "'Where could I find him?' How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to developed." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was despair." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns approach us with offers to donate. she might be summoned. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Very good.' knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Why, what do you mean?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an already been minutely examined." Holmes' thin, eager face. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' morning." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "It is his hat." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "I will not look." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to ready to-morrow?' address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I think it very unlikely." your own bird, so if you wish--" fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be more terrible than the truth. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Do you receive much company?" he asked. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the your only hope of safety." one's self under obligations.' is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is highroad, where all traces were lost. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "'And what salary do you ask?' responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her closing the door. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought burst into a hearty fit of laughter. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at