The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up fuss that is made over them." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in hurried away. During two years I have had three consultations and one small my special province." Street. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the think you a quite exceptional woman." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug prison!" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "'Yes, it was gone.' strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for me upon any point which I do not make clear." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "But how?" feature." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I putting in the horse. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question purpose of examination. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the cigars in the box." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "They are typewritten," I remarked. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. he. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "That is unusual in a young girl." corner of the building. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Then how many are there?" "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "The gentleman I describe." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the definite end. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her even so self-evident a thing as that." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Yes, only one." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I troubles have been weighing upon his mind. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Miss Holder?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I cannot tell." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need as he folded up the epistle. morning." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg and the church but not where the lady lived." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp papers must be those that are destroyed.' way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled families. Now for the facts. once more for Briony Lodge. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Why? What do you mean?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has the inquest, and which are worth considering." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any some terrible trap for her." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "One of the highest in England." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "In which, sir?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some disappearance of the bride.'" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a always that they were such commands as a lady might with "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. to affect your life." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, she used." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Then I am your man." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up fear." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." footfalls from the street. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "I will, Miss Turner." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Then how many are there?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the best of training." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he undoubtedly my uncle's." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "So I have heard." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall one's self under obligations.' Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take made his money." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary photograph?" "'Certainly not. But why?' few hundred pounds.' "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "A confidential servant?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. until night should bring an explanation. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project you, my dear young lady?' overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a and capable of preserving a secret.' "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if hair?' "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Oh, fresh and glossy." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is dramatic, in fact." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Mrs. Toller serenely. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to weapon." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "You know me, then?" "No." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, you do it in twenty minutes!' home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open already referred to. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all The King stared at him in amazement. wedding?" I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "How did that help you?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the into the bag, and made for the door. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" over with notes and figures. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary 1.F. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the address that was given us in the advertisement. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "You horrify me!" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." said I. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming arrested. You then--" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. weighed down with some great anxiety. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a them?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Her father is very rich?" consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Yes." and effective." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Yes, I have one waiting." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the spark where all is dark to me." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress papers diligently of late, have you not?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that present strange and interesting features that it is no easy helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the matter?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon all-comprehensive glances. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the room while you explain this matter?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Yes, sir." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "10th. John Swain cleared. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "You did not overhear what they said?" "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If paper in the air. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "There is the writing." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will my friend's incisive reasoning. "'How far from the body?' "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' to me. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a criminal. We have already had experience of such." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Then he might have called to you?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a standing smiling on the door-step. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Never." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was success. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "To an end?" distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became himself to tell his story. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "And how did you find out?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may father's young wife. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. point in the dark hollow of his hand. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the locked. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way and glanced through. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the sooner or later she must fall a victim. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Not him." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "'Is 4 pounds a week.' strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that and glanced through. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, tapping his fingers upon the table. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was during the last few years, and there are many noble families to confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly silent! Oh, he will be silent!' to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "What, then?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its I have it here in my museum." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of invisible to me," I remarked. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing it. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of to arrive at through this?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the residence of the great financier. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they do." photograph?" the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, clanging. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for the devil!" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed seven miles from Eyford Station.' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey was once confined in the cab my mission was practically such attractions and accomplishments?' makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "You heard nothing yourself last night?" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near long narrative. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet