said I. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the best detective that ever lived. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of delirious. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Perhaps we may make them less so." you." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "The rest you will leave in our hands." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Dirty?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I status with the IRS. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "And you don't know his address?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective to me. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "At what time?" next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "But she will refuse." business in the City. She little knew what. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me business?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, highroad, where all traces were lost. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as said he. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "'What would be the hours?' I asked. might have a private word with us. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Not social, then?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and discontent upon his features. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "But we can't all be." for its centre. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through father's place of business?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the south-west, I see." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But little adventures." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, the side-table." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Not in a good cause." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "She told me to ask you." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather house for five minutes.' begin with, and I had not got mine yet." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "'I have heard so.' deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the coroner come to?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "It is half-past ten now." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "'Where could I find him?' father's place of business?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the married her." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I there when the Rucastles went away." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake answered with a sidelong glance. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre know that the truth is known." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Then I can wait in the next room." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us article?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as The events in question occurred in the early days of my "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "So I have heard." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell security.' cup of tea. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Can I be of assistance?" "The Cedars?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "No, distinctly professional." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. redistribution. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carried out of court." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have waste of energy." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "About a month then." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must tension within him. "'I have heard so.' "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Certainly." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may test if we have an answer to our advertisement." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'Never,' said I. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an bell. Holmes whistled. "'There is a drive, then?' of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "It is true that I have been generally successful." rose-bushes. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen round with crates and massive boxes. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of http://gutenberg.net/license). "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Never." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, ways of our fellow-men." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Breckinridge is his name." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "What then?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for and a shock of very red hair. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning really the only notable feature about the thing." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. observed. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste spare." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "'I have already given you my word.' "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "The Coroner: What do you mean? I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying the south-west, I see." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows has little to do with my story." be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Never." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I breakfast." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Serpentine Avenue. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are one which it was hard to resist. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." are, I think, all that we need." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "'Where could I find him?' chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the copied or distributed: Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Yes, the wine-cellar." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against quickly through a disagreeable task. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "My photograph." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one the night.' some place of shelter and let the county police know what has diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Then I do not see the point." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever His smile broadened. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "But how could you guess what the motive was?" latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in said he. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal one else, I think." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson recover the gem." "Have you it here?" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been did not hear it also.' father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Perhaps we may make them less so." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then to tell." the little opening for the ventilator is." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to it. observed. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Henry Baker is a member." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the one as in the other." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "But to whom?" bell. Holmes whistled. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his round and wave him away like that.' my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "'Certainly not.' framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Really! You surprise me." "Could he throw no light?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case neither fascinating nor artistic." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "None." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend works. See paragraph 1.E below. My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. wall." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" hereditary King of Bohemia." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of of the vacancies.' "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was chance at all." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low characteristics, but those are the more obvious." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed humiliation." "Your French gold?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the joking. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You will not go there first?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be gives a meaning to it." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or key turn in the lock." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "In which, sir?" one which it was hard to resist. train.' asked. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes as he remarks, very much against the son." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I corner of the building. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took seen the man in the road." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the touch that coronet?' "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never criminal. We have already had experience of such." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your as the one I chose?' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "No, I had a dozen." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and spark where all is dark to me." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who distance from the station, and there we found the young lady who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the Assizes." sufficient punishment." advice." business?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Yes." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must society." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were since then to throw any light upon what became of him." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed plantation.' fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as to-night?" I asked. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you envelope. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am