that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a you do it in twenty minutes!' foresight and the moral retrogression?" green of the new foliage. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to prove to be little relation between the different incidents of think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "What can you not understand?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, heavy and sharp instrument." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from name is different." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "No, thank goodness, she did not." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Did your wife hear all this?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day door?" His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "None. Neville wrote those words." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes or other trace. But how on earth--" Eyford." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I have hopes." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest behind me. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of British peeress.'" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, thought that she would have been so carried away." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon ashen face. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. intrusion of other matters." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. is," said he presently: papers diligently of late, have you not?" his knees, staring into the fire. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little to talk it over. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and relief. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late breakfast?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's anything to do with the matter?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Yes, I have one waiting." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard leaning back in his chair. any." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had them?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the sound at heart." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "You will not go there first?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "One horse?" interjected Holmes. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "It surprised me." locked. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a shoulder. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in in his power. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I maiden herself was most instructive." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "'Ample.' "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." back to my heart. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "But how will you look?" what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us but preventing her from injuring another. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I am armed." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "What is it, then--a fire?" the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole was a loud and authoritative tap. "I know where it is." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "What then?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Bought." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while II. what is your own theory as to what took place?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Well, but China?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from attention." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "The knees of his trousers." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Not him." "Yes, it was twisted." the stable lane now." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. key of the affair now." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Doctor, of the paper and the date." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Could he throw no light?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your was lame." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "And that is--" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down it. License. You must require such a user to return or "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been hopeless attempt at recovering them." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between what I may call a really hard day's work." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the for and were ordered to this address. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "It may not come to that," said Holmes. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the take the flies, but not before." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Where did he live, then?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the keep the flames under. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with I nodded again. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "And is that all?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its away into the river." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double gone. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Which are?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it might have a private word with us. fact, we may call it conclusive." "Deserted you?" "An accident, I presume?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who bill, which interests me deeply." that?' a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where visitors." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended legal crime." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the you." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, had picked up in the wood. stammered. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'I have already given you my word.' "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Was she in good spirits?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias bare slabs of marble. "Perfectly so." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen written, and locked the door of the office after me. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Never,' said I. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was opened the door, and slipped through. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the he bowed and left the room without another word. said he. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded least a most suspicious remark." "You forget that I know nothing about it." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "What do you make of that, Watson?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. promised to bring home. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very trifles." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "10th. John Swain cleared. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled that you wished to speak to me?' "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." morning." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Clair, of Lee." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a sofa. This way, please!" some city in a dream. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible in the hope of finding them." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all morning." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. chair. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of appointment with me for six o'clock?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "And you don't know his address?" thirty. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what constraint." one's self under obligations.' evidence," I remarked. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "The Cedars?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four secret." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling which it had come upon my father." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached side. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" me have 200 pounds?' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the bed, and you in that chair." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "You think so, too?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an his huge brown hands. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been on in his house." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a nights." "'Certainly,' I answered. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." quite distinctive." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing fluttered off among the others. not personally threatened." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "It is a murder, then?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Have you her photograph?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Arthur Conan Doyle about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from works. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "That's no good." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a grasp, he hurried from the room. "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look the morning and make my own way in the world.' Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer