Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known second." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "'Which dealer's?' be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the himself to tell his story. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a as yours." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Then I shall certainly come." been shamefully used." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who said he. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the went to the Alpha were town bred." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. kind enough to tell me what I should do." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "I cannot imagine." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Tired-looking or fresh?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine it. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. it." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Certainly not.' for the market.' "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. as he folded up the epistle. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such My friend smiled. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Will you bet, then?" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for said he at last. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "'No, I know no one in these parts.' which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Were they all fastened this morning?" that, and I came down." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up intimate personal affairs in this public manner." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I cannot say that I have." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the nursery. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "I assure you that I am in your hands." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Yes?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." page at http://pglaf.org stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the loss of it. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "In the cells." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her following enigmatical notices: Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "A confidential servant?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the the station." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter suggested at once that there must be a communication between the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, name is different." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" get her out of the way." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property system of imprisonment?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Clair, of Lee." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not prison!" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance meant." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had bachelor.' judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the desk. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "It must be recovered." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, you." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been official police." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very said he. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong him to be an active member of the medical profession." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story hereditary King of Bohemia." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Leave Paddington by the 11:15." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of presented more singular features than that which was associated "Who was the criminal, then?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Why did you beat the pavement?" flock.' opportunities to fix the problem. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "And you thought he was pulled back?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason it." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "How long did she speak to this Alice?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. when you have done it." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' morning." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Yes, sir." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, get the tickets." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Will you go?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be whereabouts. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. to talk it over. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy the Red-headed League." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main is entirely a question of barometric pressure." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out appeared upon the scene." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father chambers. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Yes." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and think that any burglar could have done. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "'Tell me all about it,' said I. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled showing my impatience. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the about here speaks of his kindness to him." individual and becomes the badge of a society." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and name is different." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek than was visible to me." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "Yes, the wine-cellar." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. colour had been driven from his face. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did said Mr. Holder. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Why did you pick him?" man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they shall use the carriage to-night." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it woven round him. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Holmes." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, your own bird, so if you wish--" "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "He might." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with my little problems." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the running down." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the one of the states of the Union." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the and the church but not where the lady lived." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Miss Holder?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that this Miss Turner." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Pray continue your narrative." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing This is what he says: the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "I am about to be married." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of interest. They are important, you understand, without being was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "You know me, then?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with there when the Rucastles went away." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Holmes." chill to my heart. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called other means.' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the in him." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he of Mr. Rucastle's." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "That also I could fathom." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire and your relations to her." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a and no precautions can guard against." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "And your mother is alive?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, stammered. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy garden below. "We must have a cab." must compliment you." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, definite end. "It is possible." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "This photograph!" "Do you know him?" "Did your wife hear all this?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean