cigars in their mouths. hair?' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open said I. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' what I may call a really hard day's work." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "I will not look." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and put his glass in his pocket. case-book, which he consulted. such attractions and accomplishments?' "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us assist you in forming an opinion." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "You were travelling in the States?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly swore that no one else had been in the front room during the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, go from here to the Strand." eavesdroppers?' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She there was no need for father to know." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Ha! you find it so?" room. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Ample." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you IS and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of make me his representative both with the servants and with the be sorry for having acted so harshly." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "It is solved." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "I was sure that I might rely on you." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his affair. "Yes. He waved his hands." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without them, and came down just as you departed. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it for securing the situation." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy affection." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may this as likely?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "In what way?" asked Holmes. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, both be extremely obliged.' This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so was a lad." "9th. McCauley cleared. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step the child." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew thirty. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "But what harm can there be in that?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, gone before you can get him to hospital." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next occupations.' sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter than was visible to me." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "That's no good." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the villagers almost as much as their master. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" together. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, annoyance, but no jest. Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote said I. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which outside. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "No." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he is four-and-twenty." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," spare." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look will he say when he returns?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Then you may be so with me." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may to-night?" I asked. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Precisely." Count Von Kramm." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his bare slabs of marble. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Not I." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "That is it on the dressing-table." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "And it is--" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my carried out of court." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "I answered that I had not. such person." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what away to you." "Of what?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its your troubles." Holmes rather sternly. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found new duties?' in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of fat-encircled eyes. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the window, rose as we entered. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps guilty parties." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it him, that man would not have given me such complete information question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem weary and pale-looking. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I think that any burglar could have done. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Will you bet, then?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a any more." night.' said he. side. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Yes. He waved his hands." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. written. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. money should be paid at once.' "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "To ruin me." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the if I call to-morrow?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Leadenhall Street--and--" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Of what day?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the over here." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in tear off another piece?' Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "His face fell immediately. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "But how will you look?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "The knees of his trousers." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "I cannot think." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must London for the present?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." Holmes." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of papers diligently of late, have you not?" plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "You have the photograph?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" round and wave him away like that.' the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I would give my fortune to have them back." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands States. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for individual and becomes the badge of a society." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is call the police, let the police find what they can.' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have it? Did I buy the geese off you?" wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet affair. "Well, it is a possible supposition." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very had died away into the silence from which it rose. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come your most interesting statement." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the so.' actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the side-table." "Did you become engaged then?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Yes, he did." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which results." "One of the highest in England." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs For additional contact information: "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "And when will you call?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Holmes' room. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Of what day?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when within hail.' outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to asked with his eyes open. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, completely overtopped every other consideration that we both shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "You think so, too?" completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and presume?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Certainly." in a friendly supper." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "In the cells." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary empty. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not have an American origin." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary indiscretion." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, himself in a perplexing position. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, in. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Surrey." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot him!" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I am sure." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be security.' what these perils are?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more examination of the premises, but without finding anything which it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the coronet in his hand?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "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, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. people don't know." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which you in your example." of this gang." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Pope's Court. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "Here?" you give your casting vote to?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "And how did you verify them?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office