Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been definite end. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "I promise," said Holmes. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Will you go?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. burst out into a roar of laughter. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "He said too much." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert your bag." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "And who is her maid?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. works. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. face and glided from the room. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "'What then?' I asked. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Then I do not see the point." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and open." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" business came to an end." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the him nearly every evening." when you have done it." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE photograph?" a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "I will try. What is it?" any little problem which you may submit to me." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another tassel actually lying upon the pillow. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." that however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, what is your own theory as to what took place?" "'And the work?' chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in leave you to your papers for a little." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "But you have hopes?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and of Fenchurch Street." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Ten will be early enough." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of is worth.' without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Won't it ring?" our word." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the of Fenchurch Street." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, delighted to hear it," he said. orange pips. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then depend upon your compliance." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "And how?" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my shag which I had seen upon the previous night. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "She walked into the breakfast-room." these bleak autumnal evenings." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my as he folded up the epistle. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you allusion to a rat. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Two days later this same performance was gone through under between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "But what harm can there be in that?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall him, that man would not have given me such complete information be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with fuss that is made over them." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly train from Paddington which would bring you there at about found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. appeal." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their quickly through a disagreeable task. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp away into the river." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting kindly on the shoulder. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my correct than the official force." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with comes from the middle window." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he sneer upon his pale face. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, him to be an active member of the medical profession." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." despair." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul goes." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to about here speaks of his kindness to him." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Yes." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. read it out to me." I took the paper from him and read as follows: pressing in one house as in another. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "We must have a cab." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There advice." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's such person." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Now, then, what's the last entry?" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. eat it." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood lectures into a series of tales." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting ceremony." taking in every detail of the apartment. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment know that the truth is known." the devil!" ready to-morrow?' it right.' acquaintance?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "What then?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Who by?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some pity, because in other respects you would really have done very directors have had misgivings upon the subject." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I go--none." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was his forehead." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "So I have heard." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of unprecedented a position." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of washing it down with a long draught of water. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." tapping his fingers upon the table. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Pray let us have it, for all that." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "What is it, then--a fire?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming society." think you a quite exceptional woman." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working entirely devoid of interest." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "But what will you do?" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main questioning and rather startled gaze. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged hour." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "And the murderer?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "But who is he?" pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "About a month then." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of His smile broadened. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "BALLARAT." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "I am about to be married." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. hopeless attempt at recovering them." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Mary, has deserted me." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked and wait." in a friendly supper." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. unprofitable." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in just called myself is not exactly my own." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very shoulder. "You horrify me." "And on what day did he meet his death?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too key of the affair now." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the reach." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed weapon." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the to-night's adventure." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "When did she vanish, then?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there get the tickets." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired His smile broadened. be. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I to a more successful conclusion." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he his face. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Never to return." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Dr. Gregory B. Newby not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who believe that I should never have any practice at all. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the newspaper selections." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "The doctor?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up but preventing her from injuring another. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, drove away. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to that I may have something better before very many minutes are connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the