together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, in his hands." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It is solved." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United ways of our fellow-men." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "You have a clue?" puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Count Von Kramm." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "None." "It looks newer than the other things?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt not as remarkable as your advertisement." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of that he has suffered." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the directors, with the result that you have seen." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "The knees of his trousers." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" there!' "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "No, but the enclosure is." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very see a sister of mine apply for." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so of fine shops and stately business premises that they really noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "From his hat?" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a useful material for showing traces. The double line a little fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "No legal papers or certificates?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "VIOLET HUNTER." recover the gem." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Yes, it would be as well." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "And Irene Adler?" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet returning from some small jollification and was making his way seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for behind me. "ARAT," I read. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to silent! Oh, he will be silent!' I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united whole matter to your consideration." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." easy-going way." "Where is it, then?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the as he folded up the epistle. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Nothing?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, into the bag, and made for the door. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. coat-tails." back into the street. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the thin legs towards the fire. "Then how many are there?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "What is it, then--a fire?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "What, then, did Peterson do?" "What will you say?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a think, you have already met." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Yes." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "'Is 4 pounds a week.' afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "On your arm?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the them present such singular features as the strange train of "I say that I have solved it." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "And why?" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "No, distinctly professional." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Well." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet bedroom door." of." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a south, for the country is more deserted there." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Stolen." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, status with the IRS. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, morning." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Was the window open?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. strength." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the station." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of nothing with him." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by seem to you to be relevant or not." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. invisible to me," I remarked. all?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "On Monday." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. hour?' full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the You want to know what became of those geese?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as it." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were which are rolled in Rotterdam." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" you." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a comes from the middle window." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of indiscretion." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Young McCarthy must be got off, however." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if which I could not give. He asked for Alice. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "I was mad--insane." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian you?" layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "I never have." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest since then to throw any light upon what became of him." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." strength of mind to control. had a long day." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were and capable of preserving a secret.' fled together." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are matter over." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the house with me." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a than was visible to me." "Not in the least." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Oh, the cause is excellent!" at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "To an English lawyer named Norton." of the vacancies.' ill-usage at the hands of fortune. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in six. Come in!" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Then how many are there?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Stoke Moran." them?" "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to call the police, let the police find what they can.' whereabouts. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the you?" electronic works "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "The decline of his fortunes, then?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "And did you observe any change in her then?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with meanly of me." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Well." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I enough to aid us in our search." the stable lane now." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased then?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with records." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Yesterday." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "What shall I do?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as you?' Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a there in twenty minutes." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "But I am all in the dark." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, there has been an enclosure here!" conduct the inquiry." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a God! What an exposure! What can I do?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "She told me to ask you." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Why, it's a dummy," said he. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the only touch the interest." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at occurred." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? should be so warm over such a trifle." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of what I may call a really hard day's work." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug will not take me long to tell. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Her father is very rich?" "No sign of it?" prison!" individual and becomes the badge of a society." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "What can you not understand?" "I think it very unlikely." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did hopeless attempt at recovering them." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for investigation." "And how did you verify them?" "VIOLET HUNTER." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be what these perils are?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect unclasping of his long thin hands. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Sholtos." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "How often?" "It is solved." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, me what he had done with the three missing stones. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the your bag." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Not in a good cause." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high