"Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to quite distinctive." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite spark where all is dark to me." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "And how have you succeeded?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light affair. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the child." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'I shall certainly be there.' "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now letters?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "You think so, too?" He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "But you have hopes?" thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Yesterday." "What! Had he lost his wife?" hair?' "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat appeared upon the scene." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his ran thus: of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able me. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "My opinion is in no way altered." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a not within a twentieth part of the market price." existence." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what long narrative. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I away to you." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "There are none." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. name is different." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Yes, it was twisted." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him may have an influence upon European history." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' stood on the top of it. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate eat it." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." people don't know." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A your bag." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all hurried by. suspect him." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a other lovers by making love himself." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" not come at once?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate already been minutely examined." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which ashen face. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Thank you. And your address?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in very peculiar words of the dying woman?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age she used." like that before?" went to the Alpha were town bred." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. easy-going way." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence went to the Alpha were town bred." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Yes, it was twisted." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him in this way: From what you have told me I think that it is possible that you do it in twenty minutes!' have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the from the brougham. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," the address that was given us in the advertisement. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a it right.' "And that is--" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Here?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "You are hungry," I remarked. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "'Which dealer's?' "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "It goes to the housekeeper's room." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which province." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'And what salary do you ask?' began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few charged with?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping lamp in his hand. "How many? I don't know." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "I would pay ten." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Never." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the approach us with offers to donate. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set not as remarkable as your advertisement." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." jewels which you have stolen?' The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Who by?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal promised to bring home. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached occupations.' "Frequently." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of meant." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since up this clue while it is still hot." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client Munro.' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to whereabouts. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" window when the police appeared." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "And how?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat intrusion of other matters." fat-encircled eyes. done what I asked you, Jones?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "There are none." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "And the cigar-holder?" "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so him, that man would not have given me such complete information "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is business?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might overpowering excitement and concern. with her." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his child?' the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and was shining brightly. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "To the police?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little point in the dark hollow of his hand. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who way in everything. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start chair. stood on the top of it. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the will be renamed. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," congratulate you again." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "Whose house is it?" have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "That also I could fathom." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "How did you deduce the select?" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for past. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which daring than any effort of the imagination." note?" me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little of it with the greatest attention. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed tell him that I know him to be innocent." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Yes." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking open." bonnet, and went out." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Then he might have called to you?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Was the window open?" my secret was safe in his possession. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "If so, much may have happened between." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair directors, with the result that you have seen." asked with his eyes open. "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." purpose of examination. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend carpenter." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "You horrify me!" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "I say that I have solved it." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely with frightened eyes at his accuser. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew be sorry for having acted so harshly." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Well." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss until night should bring an explanation. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, invisible to me," I remarked. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days affair. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but vault. his eyes and forehead. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents photograph?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a address. made his money." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "On the contrary, this is the right side." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where that threaten you." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "'Certainly not. But why?' "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Holmes." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Look there!" said he. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "No, but the enclosure is." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily