superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Foundation vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "But we can't all be." unclasping of his long thin hands. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have The events in question occurred in the early days of my you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "'Most admirably.' chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "That's no good." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. of receipt of the work. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and disappearance of the bride.'" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" this man was intellectual?" some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "I was sure that I might rely on you." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, the side-table." to Leatherhead. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from one of them." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "You horrify me." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we to tackle the facts." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big which I could not give. He asked for Alice. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I beg pardon." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with The telegram which we eventually received came late one night breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Eh? What was that?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "You forget that I know nothing about it." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not few hundred pounds.' It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "No." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "Won't it ring?" can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting out." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "'What then?' I asked. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in hardly wander." "Will you go?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." particular state visit http://pglaf.org free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the felt?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon awkward doing business with an alias." outside. second." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to Leatherhead. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the power." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Yes, it would be as well." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress tassel actually lying upon the pillow. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been at home. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, along the entire front of the house, with three long windows severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have hair?' "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means call you and give you the chance." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "He said too much." of them has the shutters up.' There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of confronted him. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would six. Come in!" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the 1.E.9. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have problems help me to do so." "A client, then?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind asked. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an your troubles." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into outsides of the windows. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "I have hopes." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No thirty. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." interested in these little problems, and since you are good which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just six. Come in!" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, companion. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish more solid." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "I will get her to show me." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if fat-encircled eyes. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the here." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "And your father? Did you tell him?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not wedding?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "You did not overhear what they said?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had said he, "my real name is James Ryder." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Here?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the matter." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in feature." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cigar and let me expound." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the passage and a tap at the door. conduct the inquiry." key of the affair now." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." my former friend and companion. indeed which he could not unravel. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Did you become engaged then?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Who was the criminal, then?" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands over with notes and figures. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Precisely." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Then I shall certainly come." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the side-table." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Won't it ring?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Then I shall certainly come." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an drove away. go--none." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some cigars in their mouths. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. becomes even more simple." name is different." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him The events in question occurred in the early days of my reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious think you a quite exceptional woman." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair your bag." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is late!' "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "And sit in the dark?" "Quite so. She has her freedom." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back someone who had been in Australia." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that His smile broadened. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new closely." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed is four-and-twenty." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has present strange and interesting features that it is no easy rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "What, then?" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "BALLARAT." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass points in connection with it which never have been, and probably grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "My dear Holmes!" thirty. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark despair." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some know that the truth is known." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Yes, but only for you and me." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Holmes' face clouded over. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and It was close upon four before the door opened, and a have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "'And the work?' she slowly sank and died without having recovered her in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: I nodded again. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "And what did you see?" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should matter over." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "But to whom?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to electronic works that you wished to speak to me?' "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a populous neighbourhood." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. fishes. Street. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a trying to your nerves." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Did your wife hear all this?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and which was all perfectly true. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "What of the rat, then?" whole matter to your consideration." I have it here in my museum." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed way: were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to may never be exposed to such a temptation." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four the running down." copied or distributed: "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the general public were present, then?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited most interesting one." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Holmes' face clouded over. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it sake, don't!" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your the matter?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now into the bag, and made for the door. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the that you saw all that I did." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER."