the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was you in your example." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold and shall probably return to London by the evening train." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with as this. Pray let me have the details." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who hand, madam?" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Tired-looking or fresh?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs here and I will read it to you: his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "In heaven's name, what for?" "Will you bet, then?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs himself to hunt down. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I cannot as yet see any connection." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "You know me, then?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our have had none more fantastic than this." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to bore every mark of being an average commonplace British companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question just called myself is not exactly my own." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to weigh very heavily upon my conscience." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but down. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that any little problem which you may submit to me." of his shoulders. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it better grown goose." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "And you thought he was pulled back?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which wife's character?" strong and stiff." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I saw her in conversation with her maid." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, voice, changing her seat as requested. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off a good hundred miles off by now." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my when your master had gone out." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous society." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who again before evening." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, delirious. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight some terrible trap for her." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began conclusions. tapping his fingers upon the table. "The rest you will leave in our hands." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a fat-encircled eyes. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are Foundation difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." cigar and let me expound." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a served to weaken the effect. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Lestrade of Scotland Yard." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Certainly." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Yes, there are nearly always some there." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his daring than any effort of the imagination." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in formed some opinion?" said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during you." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Pray tell us what has happened to you." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience directors have had misgivings upon the subject." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so voice. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "And you can do nothing until then?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "That is it on the dressing-table." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking started for the Temple to see my husband. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "And your mother is alive?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted some terrible trap for her." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Yes." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil purpose of examination. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Ha! you find it so?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "That is unusual in a young girl." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible becomes even more simple." straightened it out again. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition not interfere, come what may. You understand?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some the armchair which I pushed forward for him. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, round and wave him away like that.' door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that outside. "Was your sister dressed?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from disappearance of the bride.'" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "No good news?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding brain must have something in it." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are of the vacancies.' arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "No, I am descending." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. people in all walks of life. lumber-room." was it brought him the coronet? "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Witness: It was. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "What! Had he lost his wife?" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our in the port of London." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed his face which made him a very different person to the round, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his murdered man." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he made his money." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is brought there to personate someone, and the real person is matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the as yours." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "And your father? Did you tell him?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it towards the blaze. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Ha! you find it so?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "But the mystery?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek fact, we may call it conclusive." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came enough to aid us in our search." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it have established a very serious case against the son of the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual fishes. read over the extraordinary announcement. touch that coronet?' "And what then?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her awkward doing business with an alias." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what chambers. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. place of silver." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of means taking possession of that which another person has a prior making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. success. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "'Certainly not. But why?' at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out question. "Where, indeed?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in IS second." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a wall." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the general public were present, then?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious shoulder; "he's all right." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which could go. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. in his power. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry that you saw all that I did." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Very much so." certainly not very gracious." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the arrested. You then--" his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "But to whom?" affection." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I will, Miss Turner." "Well, but China?" thought that she would have been so carried away." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Witness: I must still refuse. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you interests were the same as his." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Henry Baker is a member." too. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate families. Now for the facts. as he remarks, very much against the son." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was morning." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper.