quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "It looks newer than the other things?" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "And the cigar-holder?" "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Oh, no.' His smile broadened. "It missed him, then?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get one which it was hard to resist. into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "You have compromised yourself seriously." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "And I." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold annoyance, but no jest. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that throat." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Then I shall certainly come." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt and files of the old papers, following the future career of every given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet appeared upon the scene." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. locked." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, until night should bring an explanation. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "But his left-handedness." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of question," said Holmes, smiling. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of went to the Alpha were town bred." "It is no ordinary one." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "And the murderer?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." to-night?' in a very precise fashion." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of there in twenty minutes." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there do.' as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some October 9, 1890. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should least a most suspicious remark." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'Why that?' I asks. "The knees of his trousers." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where clang of the bell. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Watson," he said cordially. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must the address that was given us in the advertisement. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "That was it, sir." Doctor, of the paper and the date." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, answered with a sidelong glance. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" father's young wife. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "You have carte blanche." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Dark enough and sinister enough." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Won't it ring?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or have had none more fantastic than this." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. business matters.' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "I have seen the police." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the This is what he says: photograph?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that stammered. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "And it is--" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "The gentleman I describe." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "It was an hour's good drive." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "'Which dealer's?' and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying beg that you will break it off." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of that there was nothing in it, after all." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire at home. cheerful." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of outside. business." absorbing." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely You want to know what became of those geese?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "At what time?" your troubles." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right becomes even more simple." John Swain, of St. Augustine. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case straightened it out again. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "And why in hopes?" The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an must be when I saw the door open.' the devil!" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and all of them with the keenest interest. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit mysterious end." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair them present such singular features as the strange train of "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "But what will you do?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the neither fascinating nor artistic." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all directly by questioning you." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Bought." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these cigar and let me expound." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "No." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would been able to understand it, in a very few words. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding ourselves in the office." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't mysterious business." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked said he. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Oh, the cause is excellent!" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of allusion to a rat. tail." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of such person." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him memory. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "My dear Holmes!" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. next day. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far prison!" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were row." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo carpenter." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the families. Now for the facts. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "I cannot imagine." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of emerged. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "In the cells." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "And from a noble client?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "It is possible." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon your room." and the colonel ushered me in. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." disappearance of the bride.'" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Who by?" "Yes, at the mines." most interesting one." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted and have this put in the evening papers." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all strong and stiff." your Highness to the police-station?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he are, I think, all that we need." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a who was a member of your goose club." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A Count Von Kramm." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm works. See paragraph 1.E below. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness room?" "Yes." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the in his hands." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them the address that was given us in the advertisement. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six later, upon the night of May 2nd." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "His face fell immediately. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Frequently." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "And Miss Sutherland?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my with frightened eyes at his accuser. "So I have heard." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "By all means." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work are, I think, all that we need." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. o'clock is it?" "9th. McCauley cleared. not, dad?" she asked. "I see many objections to any such theory." "It certainly sounds feasible." remarked. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing questionable one." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" bird I ate is country bred." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "'And the work?' Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive pierced for earrings?" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were man. I know him from the photograph." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable lips." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my himself. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining south, for the country is more deserted there." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'