about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant gone before you can get him to hospital." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend have had none more fantastic than this." the very morning of the wedding." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Yes." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it always that they were such commands as a lady might with said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "The decline of his fortunes, then?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to remarked. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now acted in my house last night?" much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "My own seal." an introduction to him?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "The murder was done with it." just called myself is not exactly my own." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I would pay ten." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." hour?' you for a few hours?" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Texas, I think." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Not yet." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Married! When?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it allusion to a rat. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of foot. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "'Most admirably.' stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have meanly of me." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue affection." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He sparkled upon his finger. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out you want, then?' elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "And what did you see?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "What then?" "'Yes, sir.' "'And the work?' very peculiar words of the dying woman?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in directly by questioning you." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need kindly on the shoulder. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Perhaps we may make them less so." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Not social, then?" "Yes." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. States. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to could not have written that. It is the German who is so "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and the inner apartment." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, there was no need for father to know." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "I have hopes." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the lost nothing by them." "How do you know, then?" those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "If so, much may have happened between." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "But it has twice been burgled." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has seen the man in the road." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Nothing?" "Yes." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "By train from Waterloo." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "But how?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian someone who had been in Australia." the nursery. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round God! What an exposure! What can I do?" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring interested in these little problems, and since you are good individual and becomes the badge of a society." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a status with the IRS. "Precisely." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Really! You surprise me." that you saw all that I did." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he all?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and his face which made him a very different person to the round, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Street. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little delirious. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning side. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "'Certainly,' I answered. wanted for ourselves." made him keep the appointment." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of strength." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the ceiling. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the coat-tails." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go and glanced through. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no even so self-evident a thing as that." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We my secret was safe in his possession. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something Sutherland?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Who by?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of careless servant girl?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations that, and I came down." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Mrs. Toller serenely. instincts rose up against that laugh. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation official police." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward just called myself is not exactly my own." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Married! When?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. tightly behind him. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "My photograph." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a be sorry for having acted so harshly." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This the tragedy. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever together. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "And the cigar-holder?" half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable here." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their problems help me to do so." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Countess of Morcar's?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she mystery may be cleared along those lines." "But it has twice been burgled." "She showed me, as I told you she would." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the Farm upon the left." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds fat-encircled eyes. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "But his left-handedness." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Henry Baker is a member." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, over here." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long companion. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Then I can wait in the next room." hour?' details should find their way into the papers. Inspector answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'I have heard so.' events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I sake, don't!" soul! here is her carriage at the door." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was John Swain, of St. Augustine. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, or in danger--" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room in one or two places in England?' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and strength in the others." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." ago." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was through." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." companion. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of goes." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, you." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and points to suicide?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did felt the room to be a little close.' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm stalked out of the room. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. straighten it?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here James Windibank. Voilà tout!" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and and a shock of very red hair. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work security.' post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend looking up at the numbers of the houses." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Has he come with you to-night?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each writer." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Well, but China?" of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the tell them apart.' stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a opportunities to fix the problem. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "I cannot tell." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in may have an influence upon European history." there when the Rucastles went away." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no mystery may be cleared along those lines." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" charged with?" isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "And Irene Adler?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I point our research must commence, and we will begin it by home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "I see no marks." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is me." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I am about to be married." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, definite end. man. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have detective. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" is four-and-twenty." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and the night.' which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold