listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, one of them." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and him nearly every evening." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to thirty. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give details." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "VIOLET HUNTER." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "And the murderer?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole brandy and water within his reach. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "No?" and effective." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was bare slabs of marble. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, legal crime." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business possible that we could bring him back to her? the matter." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the enter into my head. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, charge against him will break down." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying writer." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Pope's Court. the morning and make my own way in the world.' I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that future lives." derbies." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly golden eyeglasses. "'Which dealer's?' police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the may have an influence upon European history." be sorry for having acted so harshly." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "If I can be of use." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that opportunities to fix the problem. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton handed it to him. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" walking." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "The King of Scandinavia." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "No, thank goodness, she did not." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." are, I think, all that we need." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you straightened it out again. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him few hundred pounds.' it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Pray be precise as to details," said he. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the dangers which encompass me." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to that threaten you." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Proceed, then." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like that before taking the final step I should like to submit the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Really! You surprise me." "I was sure that I might rely on you." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw had picked up in the wood. may never be exposed to such a temptation." indeed happy." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am him!" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." way: front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I see no marks." following enigmatical notices: Leadenhall Street--and--" "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Yes." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a events than those which have happened in my own family." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend been lifted and conveyed somewhere." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, chair. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a cup of tea. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "And is that all?" He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through power." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless seen the man in the road." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "It is very kind of you." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Yes, it would be as well." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming signal between you and your father? "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." a room. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have events, Mr. Windibank!" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out an introduction to him?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Then the page we have seen--" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the been with you?" in this way: reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "On the contrary, this is the right side." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings yet." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "And Irene Adler?" re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have be there in time for your coming." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray go--none." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently them?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of garden below. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I outside." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Perhaps we may make them less so." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "And I say east," said my patient. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be bird of prey. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So cigars in their mouths. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "My opinion is in no way altered." It may be so in this case, also." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the morning." became a certainty. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with despair." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may arms and began to sob in a high treble key. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George call the police, let the police find what they can.' I have it here in my museum." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Witness: It was. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just nice household for a young lady." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the and the church but not where the lady lived." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. humiliation." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but putting in the horse. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about about here speaks of his kindness to him." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers little adventures." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with beyond words. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you introspective fashion. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As foot. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a someone who had been in Australia." "'You cannot say what it was?' "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "But you can know nothing of this?" about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Then how many are there?" furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is roused himself from his reverie. What do you deduce from it?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, hereditary King of Bohemia." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be was feeling which was the fattest.' of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past enter into my head. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end passage and a tap at the door. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the coronet in his hand?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send remarked. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own them, and came down just as you departed. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the were unconscious?" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "In the cells." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and looked back. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Stoke Moran?" said he. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "By no means." it right.' leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora might help us?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Yes." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Street. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for arrested. You then--" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us photograph a cabinet?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Will you bet, then?" "Which are?" in the dead of the night?' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was to take care of herself." "I have come for advice." floor. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me pictures, libraries, or plate. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "No." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the little opening for the ventilator is." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy for its centre. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very tied." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about my room." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked fashion which was peculiar to him. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, as he remarks, very much against the son."