had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few congratulate you again." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face you." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." asked with his eyes open. of it with the greatest attention. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could that heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside if she died from some sudden fright." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and into the bag, and made for the door. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a photograph?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or them?" "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever During two years I have had three consultations and one small daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm case before our client came into the room." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to get her out of the way." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I enter into my head. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. my room." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly correct than the official force." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "From his hat?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over friend's singular character. annoyance, but no jest. "Have you her photograph?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the chance at all." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Literary Archive Foundation at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that weary and pale-looking. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Not particularly." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's I shall continue with my miserable story. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of obstinate." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow weary and pale-looking. during which he might have communicated with his friend the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; your own bird, so if you wish--" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every stood on the top of it. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "But she could not love him." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With hard-headed British jury." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been ashen face. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the best of training." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried security.' On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them people in all walks of life. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in as yours." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." derbies." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two empty. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'How far from the body?' fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his served to weaken the effect. companion. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words should be taken.' keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "And the murderer?" room had already been engaged for us. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the call it cruel." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "And I." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "No." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without chill to my heart. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official little adventures." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the I held the little printed slip to the light. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious face and glided from the room. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Where does the thing come from?' "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of away to you." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is the Assizes." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so American. Then who could this American be, and why should he others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my any little problem which you may submit to me." look dissatisfied." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the desk. bell. Holmes whistled. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and if only as a check to my own memory." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' to where he stood hid behind the curtain. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was you do it in twenty minutes!' stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Holmes' thin, eager face. any." on re-entering her father's house?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Nearly eleven." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, the station." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two lamp. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "You were travelling in the States?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend true." fatally injured? been able to understand it, in a very few words. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and bearing upon the case." mystery." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector look dissatisfied." "'What do you call purely nominal?' face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I have come for advice." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Sutherland?" at once, for I have only half an hour." off." the Red-headed League." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Why did you beat the pavement?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "But she will refuse." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and thought that she would have been so carried away." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that question. 1.F. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow to Leatherhead. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now public press." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether 'please.'" http://gutenberg.net/license). "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of as yours." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Arthur Conan Doyle down in his armchair and closing his eyes. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great at my own good fortune. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael there was no need for father to know." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Have you her photograph?" "What is it?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great of the way of danger. "Here?" Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in in the hope of finding them." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, instituted." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just to tell." to a light-house. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast instincts rose up against that laugh. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "'Where could I find him?' ourselves in the office." presume?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were crime. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and to-night?" I asked. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Ha! you find it so?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will would apply.' granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of advice." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; back into the street. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we I nodded again. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. would apply.' wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I know where it is." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Very much so." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking power." any more." the best of training." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only way in." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of walking." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no way in." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was all?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "That sounds a little paradoxical." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "It is possible." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. fuss that is made over them." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Farm upon the left." will not take me long to tell. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that to have been novel and of interest." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Of what day?" present." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Can I be of assistance?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "No, I think that I'll take it." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have was a loud and authoritative tap. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project of." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I