"'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, goes." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "What do you make of that, Watson?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no him to go away.' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' of it with the greatest attention. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Dr. Becher's." individual and becomes the badge of a society." "A call for help, you thought?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the best detective that ever lived. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, him and tried to hold him back. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "There is the writing." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his vanished into the darkness. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential could not have written that. It is the German who is so and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled suddenly upon us." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Yes." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Come in!" said he. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in gone. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor meanly of me." feature." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "I have come for advice." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Young McCarthy must be got off, however." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the very letters. But what is this written above them?' article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "One of the highest in England." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you business in the City. She little knew what. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of photograph?" "Very truly yours, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. get the tickets." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the station." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute mysterious business." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Then, as to money?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that tied." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for infinite languor in his face. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment papers." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "He disappeared so suddenly." followed. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," American. Then who could this American be, and why should he really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, at my remark. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Perhaps we may make them less so." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "My own seal." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out the roots. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I answered that I had not. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'Ten to two.' not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came directly by questioning you." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with thought that she would have been so carried away." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass only touch the interest." in the hope of finding them." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss in your London, you will know that the office of the company is I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." new duties?' veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very dates and names. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "But I am all in the dark." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" said I. legal crime." me." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, extraordinary contortions. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well companion imperturbably. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in said I. hour?' PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'I have already given you my word.' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "'Very good.' take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo I think that I could be of assistance to you." "No." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this bachelor.' "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a carriage. It was a chestnut." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the there when the Rucastles went away." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in memory. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "What do you mean?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "It is a murder, then?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this detective. "The knees of his trousers." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Seven!" I answered. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "So I have heard." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "That is easily got." would then never go into court at all." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until speckled band?" States. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Tired-looking or fresh?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the soul! here is her carriage at the door." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you there!' "But he might be a bachelor." that I am arrested." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Very much so." "'You cannot say what it was?' right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "My photograph." address. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "So it appears." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "What is it?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they asked with his eyes open. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to that, and I came down." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "'Certainly,' I answered. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I lids now and glanced across at his visitor. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my ago." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some is now desirous of getting those letters back." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Game for a morning drive?" Mary, has deserted me." that I can to serve you." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "By all means." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "'Never.' the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "What! You do not mean bodies?" at my remark. "What steps will you take?" I asked. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent disappearance of these gems?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "And how?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "May I see it?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the look upon these things in a different way." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Not I." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Yes." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new of receipt of the work. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I was sure that I might rely on you." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "You will not go there first?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "None." "Pray let us have it, for all that." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I it right.' leave you to your papers for a little." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, carpenter." Henry Baker is a member." think, you have already met." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may a suggestive one." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was unclasping of his long thin hands. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Deserted you?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "'Yes, it was gone.' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an entirely lost his self-respect." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. existence." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. locked. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "But to whom?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "'Oh, no.' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would John Swain, of St. Augustine. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of But Holmes shook his head gravely. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "'Where to?' "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "None. Neville wrote those words." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "That was it, sir." "But I am all in the dark." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us have been better. It is all right." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "It is very clear." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your will be renamed. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever Pool. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. bird I ate is country bred." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to other lovers by making love himself." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark neither fascinating nor artistic." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue me. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Why serious?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only dear old homesteads?" anything to a woman, for she would have her way." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls this man was intellectual?" "An accident, I presume?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the tragedy. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He behind me. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which there were one or two details which were new to me. But the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the night.' I nodded to show that I had heard. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "What is it, then--a fire?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to one else, I think." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her fatally injured? "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, with some details as to your case." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "What I expected to see." "None." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a