"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the roots. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was on re-entering her father's house?" records." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. have one." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Then, as to money?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." whereabouts. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. crime." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I shall most certainly do so." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut are, I think, all that we need." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect when your master had gone out." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Thank you. And your address?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "No, I had a dozen." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." This is what he says: could go. such person." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and useful material for showing traces. The double line a little more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you eat it." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "In which, sir?" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I room?" October 9, 1890. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." down. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the as noiselessly as she had come. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Not yet." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same to have been novel and of interest." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "There are none." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my in the hope of finding them." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he burst out into a roar of laughter. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You horrify me!" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Why, what do you mean?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from both be extremely obliged.' if she died from some sudden fright." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his disturbance in my wife." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "'Entirely.' his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Stoke Moran?" said he. these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in should be so warm over such a trifle." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under him to go away.' utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "What can you not understand?" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the results." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that letters?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I into the bag, and made for the door. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "'Yes, sir.' "None." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the as yours." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do you." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "I have come for advice." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Pray do so." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "And did you observe any change in her then?" within hail.' upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his deduce something from that?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." companion. my secret was safe in his possession. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door fled together." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which must compliment you." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable better grown goose." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'I am sure if I had known--' be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Certainly." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as stood on the top of it. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a You want to know what became of those geese?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and business." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Absolutely none." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped happened." "Yes." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy know that the truth is known." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Not him." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we bird of prey. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall and files of the old papers, following the future career of every however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." respectable self." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. populous neighbourhood." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the all-comprehensive glances. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Sutherland?" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of conceal it?" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with kindly on the shoulder. whether it answered to the description of any of their "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "To ruin me." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from would apply.' "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "What! Had he lost his wife?" crackling voice. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and believe that I should never have any practice at all. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a that, and I came down." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is morning." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make photograph a cabinet?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Yes." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Did he not advertise?" "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that make me his representative both with the servants and with the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were is so. I know all about McCarthy." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have interests were the same as his." Literary Archive Foundation you, my dear young lady?' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Seven!" I answered. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided letters?" "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most trifles." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and come either from the window or the door. My attention was the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'Yes, sir.' subject to the trademark license, especially commercial given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he bore every mark of being an average commonplace British know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off vanished into the darkness. sufficient punishment." you in your example." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a go--none." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning derbies." forecastle of an emigrant ship. "No, distinctly professional." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could so far?" large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "I warn you that they are very incomplete." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "But I am all in the dark." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A one which it was hard to resist. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "No good news?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." unprofitable." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the is now desirous of getting those letters back." "The best possible." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "What I expected to see." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, me what he had done with the three missing stones. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "'Yes, sir.' metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the one as in the other." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Where did he live, then?" take the flies, but not before." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it right.' had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "And how in the world did you find them?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. there!' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I see no marks." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. again, where I was soon asleep. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to one of them." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' stammered. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." certainly not very gracious." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he that threaten you." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of to tackle the facts." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow newspaper selections." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with definite end. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "What will you do, then?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. in the port of London." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive think that any burglar could have done. not come at once?"