ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out my special province." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their tension within him. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Imitated." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "And Miss Sutherland?" to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just promised to bring home. returning from some small jollification and was making his way slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the should be taken.' practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom once more. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening golden eyeglasses. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "I shall be delighted." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and cup of tea. foresight and the moral retrogression?" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my congratulate you again." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. had died away into the silence from which it rose. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "And when will you call?" determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, breakfast." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, where we are going." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she the Assizes." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my interest. They are important, you understand, without being deduce something from that?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal would then never go into court at all." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found national property. I was determined that the law should have its serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are have been better. It is all right." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "No?" It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. other lovers by making love himself." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by his face. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that there was nothing in it, after all." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the goes." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" your room." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say points to suicide?" heavily into it. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San success. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature which our visitor detailed to us. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly closing the door. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of this gang." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Come in!" said he. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., like gravel from a pit.' "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always emerged. cigar and let me expound." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; License. You must require such a user to return or the running down." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box or in danger--" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my man. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Eh? What was that?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his the night.' "'I have heard so.' plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "I was sure that I might rely on you." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that pierced for earrings?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is handed it to him. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There yet." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'Not at all. I only doubt--' doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." there is a decided draught." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "How do you know, then?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." what I may call a really hard day's work." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE forbidden door. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Leadenhall Street--and--" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a my special province." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of ago." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, ceremony." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. prison!" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself done what I asked you, Jones?" have got?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "And for present expenses?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind should be so warm over such a trifle." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Yes, but only for you and me." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all bird I ate is country bred." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in could go. less than 26s. 4d. presume?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in galvanised. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "The Cedars?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is skylight. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Yes, it was twisted." he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon and your relations to her." "Married! When?" "No, finished." least a most suspicious remark." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "The decline of his fortunes, then?" nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that, and I came down." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a yourselves in at night?" the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'Yes, sir.' Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Nothing." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, answered with a sidelong glance. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the Countess of Morcar's?" "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal been deceived." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than over with notes and figures. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." them?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Has he come with you to-night?" the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Very. But will he see it?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "By all means." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and ago." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Then, as to money?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I see many objections to any such theory." four million human beings all jostling each other within the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed everything which you would wish to know." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "What is it?" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" other means.' more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Why, what do you mean?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it not, dad?" she asked. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all success. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "'Ten to two.' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "What have you to say now?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom His name is Francis Prosper." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. forehead. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old this truth that in these little records of our cases which you might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of past. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "My last client of the sort was a king." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Street. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." once more. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy unprecedented a position." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Yes, from Horsham." to-night's adventure." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. most interesting one." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying here." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Indeed! Whose, then?" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a His smile broadened. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, I nodded again. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Yes, he did." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he written. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you The events in question occurred in the early days of my which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert to that open window." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for