he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which IS the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "You think that he is dead?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this bird of prey. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on chambers. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'Very good.' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was there has been an enclosure here!" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Who was the criminal, then?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "So it appears." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have you give your casting vote to?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. appeal." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for that?' "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two way in." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a families. Now for the facts. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple way in everything. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet him nearly every evening." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. in my life." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had other lovers by making love himself." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "How did that help you?" knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and colour had been driven from his face. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE fish-monger and a tide-waiter." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. was lame." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more down in his armchair and closing his eyes. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Yes." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Yes, only one." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this orange pips. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face that you wished to speak to me?' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the even so self-evident a thing as that." "But it has twice been burgled." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "But not more so than I to find you." "Certainly." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Certainly." directors, with the result that you have seen." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of means taking possession of that which another person has a prior street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "It is half-past ten now." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, charge against him will break down." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and what I may call a really hard day's work." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must call for it in person on Monday morning.' "In which, sir?" Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in to affect your life." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud crackling voice. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we is so. I know all about McCarthy." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down noise which awoke you from your sleep?" you give your casting vote to?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Street. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of of the one which your family is now devouring." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of British peeress.'" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a of campaign. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his light and attacked it." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "I shall be delighted." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see *** START: FULL LICENSE *** and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a looking up at the numbers of the houses." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Ten will be early enough." to surprise her." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his fluttered off among the others. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was charged with?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for question," said Holmes, smiling. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "That you are never beaten." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. returned to France?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he highly," said Holmes. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "No, I am descending." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me him. lost nothing by them." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "They are typewritten," I remarked. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the south-west, I see." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Ten will be early enough." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "But it has twice been burgled." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an everything which you would wish to know." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "That is easily got." "Then the page we have seen--" leave you to your papers for a little." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but The summons was a brief and urgent one. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "'I shall certainly be there.' think that any burglar could have done. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! opened the door, and slipped through. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion that I may have something better before very many minutes are saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps things are very often connected not with the larger but with the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "But what will you do?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'Quite sure, dad.' "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. http://gutenberg.net/license). horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the had died away into the silence from which it rose. see me here to avoid scandal." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "'Never,' said I. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of awkward doing business with an alias." all that?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the south-west, I see." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "An enemy?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing jewels which you have stolen?' you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your you in your example." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to late!' hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I am armed." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, skylight. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "And you can do nothing until then?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a morning." the child." prisoner's face. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when companion. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just horse could go." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham four million human beings all jostling each other within the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the delirious. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since your troubles." "No." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my was already answered. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, see me here to avoid scandal." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you six. Come in!" it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "No, I am descending." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "And now?" I asked. present." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the then?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were humiliation." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. cheerful." of it with the greatest attention. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my I was concerned in it." it were putty." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and mystery!" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Married! When?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." upon the shelf for the interim." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness look upon these things in a different way." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a attention." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I will do it." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the where we are going." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Of what?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you any more." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as things are very often connected not with the larger but with the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Why did you pick him?" his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united more solid." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the to Leatherhead. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect indeed which he could not unravel. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and