dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "None. Neville wrote those words." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by other lovers by making love himself." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Witness: Nothing definite. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should was keenly on my guard against him. "In the cells." "He slept on the premises." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up particular state visit http://pglaf.org "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Will you bet, then?" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." definite end. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors house for five minutes.' see a sister of mine apply for." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who success. "Proceed, then." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from both be extremely obliged.' "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "What can it mean?" I gasped. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "To the police?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs one which it was hard to resist. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Bought." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another of receipt of the work. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "'How far from the body?' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax sneer upon his pale face. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I hair?' myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "But to whom?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should such person." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, without a word or a look. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the public press." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Really! You surprise me." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any points to suicide?" "But your client--" "Do you go out much in society?" "None." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." criminal. We have already had experience of such." page at http://pglaf.org persecution?" vanished into the darkness. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a make me his representative both with the servants and with the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, whereabouts. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his there!' nights." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Yesterday." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number and files of the old papers, following the future career of every fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I see no marks." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "I should wish to." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass to-night." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "I cannot imagine." and a shock of very red hair. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "In what way?" asked Holmes. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful stood on the top of it. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father upon a handsome competence. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "In answer to an advertisement." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little I. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side depend upon your compliance." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered pictures, libraries, or plate. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner until night should bring an explanation. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable throat." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with strode off upon his way. indeed happy." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this returned to France?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend been lifted and conveyed somewhere." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Pray continue your narrative." past. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not was a lad." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "No, thank goodness, she did not." cigar and let me expound." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since with her." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, chance at all." instincts rose up against that laugh. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of despaired of." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the Red-headed League." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "You are hungry," I remarked. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the crackling voice. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "And how did you find out?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." appeared upon the scene." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last drove away. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" present." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange appeal." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It but preventing her from injuring another. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just that you saw all that I did." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that the very morning of the wedding." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, key turn in the lock." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, noting anything else of interest. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill go back?" He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, you." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "And that is--" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. gone. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'I am sure that I do not know.' the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Game for a morning drive?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "And Irene Adler?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'I have already given you my word.' "I don't believe it." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and beg that you will break it off." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six late." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "'Which dealer's?' business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given business." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by relation between them, and what the object of his repeated beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "In heaven's name, what for?" them?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "But we can't all be." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "I was afraid that you were engaged." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to place of silver." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "None." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his that he will be back before evening." "No, but the enclosure is." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood You want to know what became of those geese?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and absorbing." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought tension within him. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Upon what point?" "In the cells." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main excitement. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds sufficient punishment." "I think it very unlikely." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment a suggestive one." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." even of instruction." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" only touch the interest." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it as noiselessly as she had come. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court feature." "My dear Holmes!" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step man. "Your presence might be invaluable." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that sake, don't!" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Eyford." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then which we had just quitted. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your business." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "How about poison?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 at a side door. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of my special province." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from retorted upon me, and I on you." wanted for ourselves." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "What steps will you take?" I asked. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I your co-operation." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had undoubtedly my uncle's." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows orange pips. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, an introduction to him?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his despair." against a man in the prime of life?" drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Not in the least." never to learn it at all." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "'Tell me all about it,' said I. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Where is it, then?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt stammered. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "I have my revolver," said I. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it with the outside air!" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "What! Had he lost his wife?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I events, Mr. Windibank!" "My opinion is in no way altered." this as likely?" and it need not interfere very much with one's other he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "The King of Scandinavia." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Miss Holder?" "So I am. Very much so." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my