that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet of campaign. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK views." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "No." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to other, as fresh and trim as possible. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. might have a private word with us. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for again on its way. were unconscious?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'What, the red-headed man?' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I was certainly surprised to find you there." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I am following you closely," I answered. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert forehead. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black You want to know what became of those geese?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, acquaintance?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the 1.E.9. necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, you for a few hours?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, purpose equally well?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his copied or distributed: But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has sparkled upon his finger. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and because she had spent so short a time in this country that she matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped very morning of my second wedding." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he weigh very heavily upon my conscience." danger is over." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Yes, only one." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but less than 26s. 4d. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying Arthur Conan Doyle office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Your presence might be invaluable." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "When did it break out?" best detective that ever lived. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my I shall communicate with you." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own goes." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had 1.E.9. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "But what is it you wish?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House me what he had done with the three missing stones. "But it has twice been burgled." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel bled considerably." such attractions and accomplishments?' that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Gutenberg-tm License. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so that you wished to speak to me?' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the States. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of in my life." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I was afraid that you were engaged." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the to a light-house. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have upon the sideboard." "Quite so." would then never go into court at all." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of security.' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Street. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that situation." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the security.' the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite to his chemical studies. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his and all of them with the keenest interest. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Well?" me. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as such person." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that once more for Briony Lodge. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the strong reason behind." hour?' "And I to find an enemy." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, married her." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." go back?" think that any burglar could have done. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my gigantic client. business came to an end." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. in my life." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of of the one which your family is now devouring." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Yes, certainly." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "I cannot say that I have." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in note?" ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Imitated." DAMAGE. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to sofa. This way, please!" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "That sounds a little paradoxical." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "What!" he roared. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one read over the extraordinary announcement. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he of the vacancies.' and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend and it need not interfere very much with one's other of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to the Friday. Was it to be in church?" voice. stood on the top of it. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very trying to your nerves." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon three of the beryls in it, was missing. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better had a long day." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I had a long day." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "So I heard. You have him here?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do chemical work which was so dear to him. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the think, you have already met." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" a monotonous occupation." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch with her." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. and capable of preserving a secret.' the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Of what?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the devil!" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between go from here to the Strand." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." in a friendly supper." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, the window, rose as we entered. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my the address that was given us in the advertisement. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every papers on the sundial.'" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Precisely." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Nothing?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be present." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not rat could hardly pass through." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. absorbing." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "And leave your case unfinished?" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the said he at last. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "We were both in the photograph." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who made him keep the appointment." here." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. like gravel from a pit.' narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this himself to hunt down. strength." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy John Swain, of St. Augustine. is," said he presently: livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed drove away. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Could he throw no light?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he girl said." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock his grey eyes. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Well." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an gigantic client. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. guilty one." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you 'I should be able to look after that for you.' business in the City. She little knew what. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "What then?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall whole matter to your consideration." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers house for five minutes.' contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. burst out into a roar of laughter. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry once more. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose trying to your nerves." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you most interesting one." views." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to more terrible than the truth. "I will, Miss Turner." other, as fresh and trim as possible. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry acquaintance?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By John Swain, of St. Augustine. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly true." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked