myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have villagers almost as much as their master. your only hope of safety." instincts rose up against that laugh. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I have my revolver," said I. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'Stolen!' he cried. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From correct than the official force." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "What then?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like prove to be little relation between the different incidents of towards the blaze. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Certainly." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "'And the work?' tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you until night should bring an explanation. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'About the same.' his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from next day. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back used to be." really the only notable feature about the thing." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, down from London to inquire more deeply into it." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to said he. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me hurried by. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "And the cigar-holder?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "No. What a strange idea!" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and said he. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. strong and stiff." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "That is easily got." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his sake, don't!" did not hear it also.' have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well come either from the window or the door. My attention was foot. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'Where to?' chance at all." "Dirty?" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. once more for Briony Lodge. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit might have a private word with us. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "No. His orders were to stay in the house." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything redistribution. "What is it?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without key of the affair now." before, for it was considerably after midnight. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Not I." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual lamp. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a ways of our fellow-men." tell me that you intended to go into harness." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I these bleak autumnal evenings." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. from the brougham. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the with you alone." "'Entirely.' even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy where Mr. Fordham shows you.' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" key of the affair now." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they lost his Christmas dinner." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "9th. McCauley cleared. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A purpose equally well?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "You don't mind breaking the law?" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Then I am your man." the tragedy. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "And how have you succeeded?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Here?" main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in the dead of the night?' Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "What do you make of that, Watson?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching way in." very morning of my second wedding." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my bore every mark of being an average commonplace British settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Could he throw no light?" "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "And what did you see?" not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had depend upon your compliance." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I said he. gentleman's clothes. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike over with notes and figures. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings out." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "His face fell immediately. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "What will you say?" "He slept on the premises." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would all?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided without success. At last the little money which I had saved began skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from matter." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Then, as to money?" "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "What shall I do?" "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Pool. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Why did you pick him?" carried out of court." the very morning of the wedding." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds over his head with a sweet womanly caress. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing ready to-morrow?' ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and The police have openly confessed that they can at present make another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Of what?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but footfalls from the street. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Then you may entirely rely on me." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' shall not find me ungrateful." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. with the outside air!" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly lamp in his hand. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is directly by questioning you." was a loud and authoritative tap. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not introspective fashion. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "And how did you verify them?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded rat could hardly pass through." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was once more on the important position which you have been fortunate waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It to-night's adventure." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "What is it, then--a fire?" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his astonishment. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" for and were ordered to this address. new acquaintance to Baker Street. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** a little more before I quite committed myself. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She started for the Temple to see my husband. you, my dear young lady?' "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that congenial hunt. bears upon the case?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Then I am your man." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom be. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Then I do not see the point." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled might have a private word with us. here." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "No?" entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and families. Now for the facts. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "I will, Miss Turner." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his nothing of it?" my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "You think that he is dead?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. quickly through a disagreeable task. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not detective. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three away in different directions, and I went off to make my own seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "I will try. What is it?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." confronted him. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his points in connection with it which never have been, and probably typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "My opinion is in no way altered." "And why in hopes?" peculiar to him. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for 11:15.' upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Was she in good spirits?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "He is still with you, I presume?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Pool. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "But how could you guess what the motive was?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Where did you address your letters, then?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'Yes.' you." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent companion. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? lamp in his hand. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and have got?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "What can you not understand?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Which are?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about I shall continue with my miserable story. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." prison!" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life I was concerned in it." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "'Yes.' "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "'What do you call purely nominal?' professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police one which it was hard to resist. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady fashion which was peculiar to him. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the humiliation."