idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely redistribution. "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "What can you not understand?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen danger is over." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Heh?' you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Very murderous indeed." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. DISSOLVED. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Your sister is dead, then?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who papers diligently of late, have you not?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "How do you know, then?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is mystery!" strong reason behind." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very shadow pass over his face as I spoke. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and your bag." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "On your arm?" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they This is what he says: the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian is a common subject for conversation. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "I know where it is." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon light and attacked it." "I think that it is very probable." "Eh? What was that?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Yes." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know again before evening." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her singular points about the case. What did the police think of the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Pray do so." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "My opinion is in no way altered." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the enter into my head. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "You have it, sir, just as it happened." the Assizes." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public I leave." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his to tackle the facts." "I have solved it." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "What have you to say now?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of business." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Perhaps I have." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for on in his house." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me whole matter to your consideration." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of as noiselessly as she had come. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "'And what salary do you ask?' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "What is it?" other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key and your relations to her." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Quite so." "Of what?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "My own seal." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, do.' "How did he come?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such good for you to do.' McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough to have been novel and of interest." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such nights." "I have seen the police." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: were unconscious?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near seven miles from Eyford Station.' "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' true." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little now. It seems that there had been some informality about their a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, you." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the on in his house." the so-precious time, but come!' known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "I say that I have solved it." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and shall use the carriage to-night." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that cup of tea. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "How did that help you?" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "You did not overhear what they said?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in he died? and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." do." was shining brightly. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very be. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "None. Neville wrote those words." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. make me his representative both with the servants and with the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must time." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "By all means." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of of this gang." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the papers on the sundial.'" "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have late!' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Where is it, then?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which main points of my analysis." think you a quite exceptional woman." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "BALLARAT." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Pray continue your narrative." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his out of this horrible affair." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it front of me. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her just ask you whether you had heard it.' mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. quite distinctive." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "And I to find an enemy." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "It is half-past ten now." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with was a perfect sample of the class. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower placed his cuttings. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to said he. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry take the flies, but not before." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though exactly what you advise." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a whole matter to your consideration." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "I never have." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Perhaps we may make them less so." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it even so self-evident a thing as that." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "'Not at all. I only doubt--' the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if cause to be." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. most interesting one." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my of note-paper. It read in this fashion: place, I think that there is good ground to think that the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "There is the writing." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment character. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "They are typewritten," I remarked. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a absorbing." furiously. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door what do you think they found in the pockets?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "That is it on the dressing-table." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Who by?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly strong reason behind." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "He said too much." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me has little to do with my story." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the you." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took his fortune, and I went back to pa. it right.' "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "It must be recovered." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was lamp in his hand. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Did you observe the colour?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the page at http://pglaf.org body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Very much so." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any noting anything else of interest. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "No?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a 'please.'" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Heh?' "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "But to whom?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up