ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist questioning and rather startled gaze. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "You will not go there first?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out investigation." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. footfalls from the street. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't know that the truth is known." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "It is a murder, then?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them thirty. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the general public were present, then?" tied." "Your presence might be invaluable." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted cigar and let me expound." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was signal between you and your father? back to my heart. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I beg pardon." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular absorbing." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months eavesdroppers?' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body enough to aid us in our search." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are putting in the horse. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No became a certainty. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining You want to know what became of those geese?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do heavy and sharp instrument." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter and the whole place is in a blaze." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "But I have heard all that you have heard." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Eh? What was that?" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which IS "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt once more to my work. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand ways including including checks, online payments and credit card it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from questioning and rather startled gaze. "You did not overhear what they said?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking voice, changing her seat as requested. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Street. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well door?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the will be renamed. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Her father is very rich?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "I have hopes." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything could go. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly events, Mr. Windibank!" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of went to the Alpha were town bred." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'Quite sure, dad.' before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "He said that you could solve anything." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "'And the work?' neither fascinating nor artistic." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." I have it here in my museum." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "How did that help you?" "There are none." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Did you become engaged then?" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Where, indeed?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the started for the Temple to see my husband. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Did you become engaged then?" to Leatherhead. and looked back. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Your French gold?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. few hundred pounds.' have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "I think it very unlikely." But Holmes shook his head gravely. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the inner apartment." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the weighed down with some great anxiety. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "The Coroner: What do you mean? without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have ceremony." "In the cells." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "It missed him, then?" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What horse could go." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "I was afraid that you were engaged." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when that threaten you." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some wall." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "That is possible." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Very murderous indeed." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, at home. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Not in the least." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "So I have heard." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in and it need not interfere very much with one's other a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in The telegram which we eventually received came late one night congenial hunt. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so an introduction to him?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her very morning of my second wedding." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you money should be paid at once.' would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Well, it is a possible supposition." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he said I. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this skylight. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. me upon any point which I do not make clear." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, towards the blaze. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich will not take me long to tell. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across disappearance of the bride.'" down. may have an influence upon European history." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the dangers which encompass me." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "At what time?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my three fields round his house, and there he would take his freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Entirely." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "'Why that?' I asks. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the stable lane now." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "So I am. Very much so." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to carried out of court." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently learned something! Where are the gems?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Do you know him?" direction." have been better. It is all right." recover the gem." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a into her hand at the door and which lured her within their beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "You were travelling in the States?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax persecution?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Who by?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crime." back alive. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down chill to my heart. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond lamp in his hand. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the copied or distributed: indeed happy." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible I have it here in my museum." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand your sleep?' Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of main points of my analysis." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he events, Mr. Windibank!" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Heh?' appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said should be so warm over such a trifle." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "I am to be neutral?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "'I am sure that I do not know.' fat-encircled eyes. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the warnings." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "What, then?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "You have the photograph?" likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the there in twenty minutes." here." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, and put his glass in his pocket. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Pray do so." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to stalked out of the room. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in and prosperity to your house. Good-night." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the wedding?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well