he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Have you it here?" be there in time for your coming." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Farm upon the left." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to look upon these things in a different way." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance distinguish the words: shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Your presence might be invaluable." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each to-night." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "You have compromised yourself seriously." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his here and I will read it to you: "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you of the way of danger. the warnings." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows your co-operation." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "She walked into the breakfast-room." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and amused." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout call the police, let the police find what they can.' shaken than I had ever seen him. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Yes, only one." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. business." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "So I heard. You have him here?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong felt?" very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "My Mary? Impossible!" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. been able to understand it, in a very few words. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if views." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "I promise," said Holmes. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the he died? "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps it right.' "That you are never beaten." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair forbidden door. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these father's young wife. returning from some small jollification and was making his way My friend smiled. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "A greater distance to travel." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband with frightened eyes at his accuser. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They rooms." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I forbidden door. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my hardly wander." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. be there in time for your coming." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may sufficient punishment." "No more words. Get out!" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. only touch the interest." more terrible than the truth. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "What! Had he lost his wife?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "A greater distance to travel." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Well, it is a possible supposition." beg that you will break it off." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it definite end. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Quite so. She has her freedom." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, province." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "No, finished." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Pray tell us what has happened to you." said he at last. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw your equipment. showing my impatience. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and again on its way. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent bachelor.' no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "I have come for advice." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "My dear Holmes!" written. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the breakfast?" sneer upon his pale face. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "And help." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the extraordinary contortions. companion quietly. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Holmes' face clouded over. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without fuss that is made over them." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, tell me that you intended to go into harness." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "That is not always so easy." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms drove away. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." hand, madam?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "But what is it you wish?" "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It is true that I have been generally successful." the coronet in his hands?" disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Holmes' room. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad have I gained?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, works. See paragraph 1.E below. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the dangers which encompass me." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "And that is--" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." where we are going." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the dangers which encompass me." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." business?" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Yes, at the mines." happened." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Stoke Moran?" said he. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Nothing." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "What is it, then--a fire?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" trying to your nerves." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had mystery." shall not find me ungrateful." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and the one as in the other." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "I beg pardon." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "But to whom?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "How did that help you?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards golden eyeglasses. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "How did you trace it, then?" charged with?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Holmes, the busybody!" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom the child." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "I have a cab outside." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue subject to the trademark license, especially commercial were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, colonel looking down at me. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a I nodded again. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "None." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "How did you deduce the select?" of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "I cannot imagine." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could silent! Oh, he will be silent!' in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but burst out into a roar of laughter. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." to change my dress. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "One?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the III. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from night.' said he. "Well, it is a possible supposition." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the Assizes." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I in this way: The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with that you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be is four-and-twenty." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any some place of shelter and let the county police know what has public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining Holmes' thin, eager face. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if bears upon the case?" George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but prove to be little relation between the different incidents of work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "That was it, sir." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Her father is very rich?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "What will you say?" "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Yesterday." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of have I gained?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Perhaps we may make them less so." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I see many objections to any such theory." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I best detective that ever lived. exactly what you advise." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman prove to be little relation between the different incidents of over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of or in danger--" once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his been with you?" immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform events, Mr. Windibank!" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "It surprised me." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." to you." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Ah!" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the ceiling. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had once more for Briony Lodge. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I definite end. roused himself from his reverie. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize forebodings. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Where to?" confronted him. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "And you don't know his address?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE undoubtedly my uncle's." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have