shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "There is the writing." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Have you her photograph?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "What!" he roared. made his money." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "The Coroner: What do you mean? B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are enter into my head. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth singular points about the case. What did the police think of the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's you?' "Absolutely none." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, him nearly every evening." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the driver. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to shaken than I had ever seen him. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "That you are never beaten." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Then I shall certainly come." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your I. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see you." "She showed me, as I told you she would." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. his eyes and forehead. not come at once?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true a room. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Pray let us have it, for all that." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Yes, they were peculiar boots." cheerful." were wasted." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner room?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." other means.' profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on yards of it?' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. and glanced through. vault. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "There are none." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Not I." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in wanted for ourselves." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. helping a boy to put up the shutters. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and even of instruction." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, me upon any point which I do not make clear." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is electronic works stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "Well, but China?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "And how did you find out?" "The knees of his trousers." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Not social, then?" what I may call a really hard day's work." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must from the brougham. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the emerged. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the security.' think, you have already met." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me indeed which he could not unravel. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it any more." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with arrangements." maiden herself was most instructive." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at rat could hardly pass through." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be individual and becomes the badge of a society." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to is now desirous of getting those letters back." writing, and yet I know it well." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "No sign of it?" you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." imbecility!" he cried. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very dear old homesteads?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never useful material for showing traces. The double line a little his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away father's place of business?" opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "From his hat?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Have you it here?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Was there a secret marriage?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the pictures, libraries, or plate. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "And your mother is alive?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded comes from the middle window." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom breakfast?" "Perhaps I have." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "So I have heard." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, were new raised from a basin. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Why, what do you mean?" over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of ashen face. his forehead." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "No, finished." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out cost them two and thirty pounds." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." three of the beryls in it, was missing. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' noting anything else of interest. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready promised to bring home. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom acted in my house last night?" elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Perhaps I have." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell had this final quarrel? "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "And why?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons even of instruction." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "We have tried and failed." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "And I to find an enemy." so.' before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the entirely devoid of interest." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Yes." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "And you can do nothing until then?" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Clair, of Lee." hardly wander." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite to a light-house. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of enough to aid us in our search." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "What office?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at that I can to serve you." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "You don't mind breaking the law?" redistribution. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, taking in every detail of the apartment. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Pope's Court, Fleet Street." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." been deceived." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Do you know him?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she mystery." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, conclusions. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Then what has happened to him?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the roots. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "So it appears." green of the new foliage. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'What, the red-headed man?' doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. suddenly upon us." "The Coroner: What do you mean? be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips retorted upon me, and I on you." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell as he remarks, very much against the son." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he train.' Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not better grown goose." to-night's adventure." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Not particularly." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. opportunities to fix the problem. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he your billet.' without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "And Miss Sutherland?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Very. But will he see it?" "'You cannot say what it was?' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my call it cruel." "Yes, it would be as well." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "The doctor?" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. society." "'As governess?' "But your client--" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Pray continue your narrative." foresight and the moral retrogression?" go--none." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "No, distinctly professional." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose again." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "That is also quite modern," said the lady. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, this unhappy family?" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length morning." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon Cross for the Continent." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and photograph?" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "That is also quite modern," said the lady. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with drove away. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "No, but the enclosure is." in him." Stoke Moran." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its him and tried to hold him back. became a certainty. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but information in his hands the value of which he did not himself few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had your Highness to the police-station?" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Did he not advertise?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow kindly on the shoulder. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of prove to be little relation between the different incidents of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of too. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Not yet." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the devil!" papers." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them