"What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever several quiet little villages up there." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Well." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "It was." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat undoubtedly my uncle's." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened you." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the over part of the map. "What do you read?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the vanished into the darkness. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be problems help me to do so." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his is four-and-twenty." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Yes." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "I do." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. was already answered. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the hopeless attempt at recovering them." "I am all attention, madam." bird I ate is country bred." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "It was a confession," I ejaculated. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an there when the Rucastles went away." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of It was close upon four before the door opened, and a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "It is possible." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I stood on the top of it. "I cannot tell." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "No bad?" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Stoke Moran?" said he. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Where is it, then?" wedding?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and next day. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Ah, but I was recommended to you." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "But she could not love him." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us during which he might have communicated with his friend the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Yes, all." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as happened." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "That is also quite modern," said the lady. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Stolen!' he cried. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My likely to be some crony of the landlady's." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; what do you think they found in the pockets?" "I am to be neutral?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "No, I think that I'll take it." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, know that the truth is known." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and morning." "Very. But will he see it?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'Entirely.' from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me very peculiar words of the dying woman?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael it." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who imbecility!" he cried. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Well." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong past. "What then?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a them present such singular features as the strange train of "He might." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the enter Dr. Roylott's room." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'What then?' I asked. think, you have already met." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'Stolen!' he cried. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it in his hands." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by your most interesting statement." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for later, upon the night of May 2nd." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "And you don't know his address?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a must compliment you." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and throat." his face. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "I will do it." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or business matters.' money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Entirely." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right is now desirous of getting those letters back." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." breakfast?" charge against him will break down." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is in. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "I was certainly surprised to find you there." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, even of instruction." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon ready to-morrow?' call for it in person on Monday morning.' "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Yes." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its me. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "In answer to an advertisement." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "So I heard. You have him here?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "It came here." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and colour had been driven from his face. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "The vanishing of the lady." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "A greater distance to travel." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "To the police?" prison!" "I promise," said Holmes. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms roused himself from his reverie. "It is half-past ten now." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "What I expected to see." and effective." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. you want, then?' through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Yes, the wine-cellar." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the Holmes. strength." eat it." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how to his chemical studies. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this was shining brightly. several quiet little villages up there." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking or in danger--" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. delirious. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, your bag." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's bearing upon the case." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either was not a bird to be seen there. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I cannot tell." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by cost them two and thirty pounds." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. families. Now for the facts. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the The King stared at him in amazement. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Sutherland?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Breckinridge is his name." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside hour." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and this man was intellectual?" tapping his fingers upon the table. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, to me. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my not, dad?" she asked. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. them, and came down just as you departed. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to ran thus: very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "'I have heard so.' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and your relations to her." read over the extraordinary announcement. of the one which your family is now devouring." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who should be taken.' posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, fashion which was peculiar to him. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "And why?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "It is a murder, then?" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Witness: I must still refuse. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "It missed him, then?" just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were you?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,"