objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "That is not always so easy." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "You don't mind breaking the law?" There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand very peculiar words of the dying woman?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "You are all wrong." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "May I see it?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "But she could not love him." time." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the crackling voice. pierced for earrings?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no second window is the one that I jumped from." again." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He of his shoulders. him. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the woman." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange you for a few hours?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Deserted you?" "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Mrs. Toller serenely. "But his left-handedness." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. and it need not interfere very much with one's other which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "But to whom?" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Eyford." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, easy-going way." me what he had done with the three missing stones. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and becomes even more simple." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found young Openshaw's." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a whole matter to your consideration." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Yes." "Not in the least." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to tackle the facts." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in and wait." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "But we can't all be." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door new acquaintance to Baker Street. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one presented which may be striking and bizarre without being this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard maiden herself was most instructive." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the outside." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from directors, with the result that you have seen." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He empty. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. good-night and bustled off upon her way. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much in one or two places in England?' records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he it." question. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Have you her photograph?" salesman. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a McCarthy's innocence. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." golden eyeglasses. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "A confidential servant?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "By no means." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots I have it here in my museum." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I cannot tell." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. digesting their breakfasts at home." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her corner of the building. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "If so, much may have happened between." compunction about shooting them down." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Did you observe the colour?" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, forbidden door. morning." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I see many objections to any such theory." too. stepfather?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened had died away into the silence from which it rose. "That was it, sir." despaired of." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the seen the man in the road." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place said I. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss your billet.' "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "The doctor?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "What do you make of that, Watson?" point our research must commence, and we will begin it by society." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main promised to bring home. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable province." astonishment. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that returned to France?" the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. occupations.' upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own there!' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Certainly." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he with the outside air!" do." take the flies, but not before." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "He is still with you, I presume?" gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads at a side door. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Can I be of assistance?" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "In San Francisco, a year ago." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "To ruin me." "Then you may entirely rely on me." dates and names. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a his wife has ceased to love him." "Nearly eleven." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too morning." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural with you?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "You have a clue?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. feature." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do acquaintance?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the was already answered. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an sofa. This way, please!" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of criminal. We have already had experience of such." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "He might." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to meanly of me." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "The Cedars?" any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable him and tried to hold him back. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing such person." noble correspondent could be. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "How on earth--" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a humiliation." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally which it had come upon my father." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Will you go?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot I leave." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable to where he stood hid behind the curtain. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened danger is over." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "So I heard. You have him here?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other for its centre. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the one of the states of the Union." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out if only as a check to my own memory." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "But what is it you wish?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "It is true that I have been generally successful." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "My photograph." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap was not a bird to be seen there. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my 1.F. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now chambers. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. felt the room to be a little close.' third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him during that time.' in my life." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of companion. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this is acting for the best. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort into the room. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. shall use the carriage to-night." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. closely." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "What! You do not mean bodies?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "And when will you call?" keep the flames under. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "'Which dealer's?' down. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "It is possible." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of weary and pale-looking. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Stoke Moran?" said he. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Yes, sir." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "VIOLET HUNTER." "'Ample.' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. correct than the official force." the Red-headed League." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to as this. Pray let me have the details." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?"