could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "When did it break out?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the general public were present, then?" "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your remarked. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has this remarkable episode. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the daring than any effort of the imagination." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit goes." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's certainly not very gracious." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the had formerly been in part my own. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock the one as in the other." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "I will do it." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Cross for the Continent." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Holmes. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It tell them apart.' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Holmes' thin, eager face. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it writing, and yet I know it well." presented more singular features than that which was associated very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he returned to France?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "At the wedding breakfast." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'And the work?' closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon morning." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "But how?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can look dissatisfied." to that open window." the dangers which encompass me." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "And leave your case unfinished?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally empty. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains unkempt, staring out at me. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I gone before you can get him to hospital." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Nothing?" "Certainly." "Yes, from Horsham." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. remarked. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps purpose of examination. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his green of the new foliage. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in always that they were such commands as a lady might with material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "In answer to an advertisement." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has very morning of my second wedding." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand weigh very heavily upon my conscience." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Yes?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. night.' said he. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Yes, all." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "What office?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been into the room. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Witness: It was. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such room had already been engaged for us. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and http://gutenberg.net/license). wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I would pay ten." "But to whom?" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a memory. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, mysterious business." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I cannot imagine." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From thin legs towards the fire. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the them?" "I guessed as much." indeed which he could not unravel. sake, don't!" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Could he throw no light?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over sentimental considerations in the background which would induce way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "The landlord of the Alpha." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "No." "An accident, I presume?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up directors, with the result that you have seen." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "He is still with you, I presume?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "The best possible." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" colour had been driven from his face. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "That is also quite modern," said the lady. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the straighten it?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I It may be so in this case, also." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and him. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." that, and I came down." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "He disappeared so suddenly." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the was used.' predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a matter over." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from at a side door. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the very morning of my second wedding." "Yes." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I know where it is." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every derbies." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the his huge brown hands. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "And what did you learn from him?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "The landlord of the Alpha." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I Farm upon the left." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "'Yes, it was gone.' We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" answered with a sidelong glance. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I should be immensely obliged to you." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little he. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already indeed which he could not unravel. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the very letters. But what is this written above them?' chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step John Swain, of St. Augustine. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "If so, much may have happened between." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted companion. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Holmes rather sternly. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused to surprise her." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "I say that I have solved it." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar said he. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, what is your own theory as to what took place?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem must be when I saw the door open.' well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the address that was given us in the advertisement. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his the coronet in his hands?" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Proceed, then." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Holmes, the busybody!" it." "'Yes, sir.' you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other lovers by making love himself." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. handed it to him. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Your sister is dead, then?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself round and wave him away like that.' to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "To an English lawyer named Norton." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies behind me. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean said I. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both written, and locked the door of the office after me. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay man. I know him from the photograph." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds best detective that ever lived. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it one's self under obligations.' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the father's place of business?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "He is still with you, I presume?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "No bad?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "My own seal." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. McCarthy's innocence. photograph?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' examine." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the Red-headed League." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though highroad, where all traces were lost. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "So I am. Very much so." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a and the church but not where the lady lived."