spark where all is dark to me." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is gone before you can get him to hospital." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "The rest you will leave in our hands." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the weary and pale-looking. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He said I. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole During two years I have had three consultations and one small they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Was your sister dressed?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "The Coroner: What do you mean? "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "'And the work?' Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, case-book, which he consulted. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in bled considerably." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been spare." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I shall be delighted." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem one of them." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Street. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "That is it on the dressing-table." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Where is it, then?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "What! Had he lost his wife?" time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from desk. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "And is that all?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. them?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "It was." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray telegram would bring me down to your help." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. yourselves in at night?" stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Munro.' is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Did he not advertise?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "I am following you closely," I answered. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of hurried by. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much written, and locked the door of the office after me. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is call it cruel." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Watson," he said cordially. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Not I." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to that open window." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the could go. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in system of imprisonment?" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'There is a drive, then?' "May I see it?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin mysterious business." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle which we had just quitted. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly that the gas is not laid on in his house?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "'Not at all. I only doubt--' eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly me upon any point which I do not make clear." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as excitement. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him gone before you can get him to hospital." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "At what time?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "I know where it is." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You have it, sir, just as it happened." your room." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him of." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Was he the only applicant?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "And why?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "And who is her maid?" stood on the top of it. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag plantation.' next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Literary Archive Foundation had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "I have seen the police." "Never." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me knowledge of the world." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a that I am arrested." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close the inner apartment." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a his cane at the bell-pull. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "I am following you closely," I answered. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "What then?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "And how have you succeeded?" "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "No, I had a dozen." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see sound at heart." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. front of me. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat spark where all is dark to me." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the then?" there." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their there has been an enclosure here!" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his The summons was a brief and urgent one. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of help us in this matter." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "An accident, I presume?" "Whose house is it?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, as yours." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear subject to the trademark license, especially commercial word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "One of the highest in England." crackling voice. easy-going way." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. second window is the one that I jumped from." "Did you observe the colour?" it were putty." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were cause to be." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "No?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would to miss it." if I call to-morrow?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion tell me that you intended to go into harness." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I 'please.'" reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such someone who had been in Australia." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "My Mary? Impossible!" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But the salesman. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid good-night and bustled off upon her way. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon asked. "My own seal." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An business matters.' while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "'I have heard so.' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Precisely so. But how--" States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were secret." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the have I gained?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the stable lane now." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you showing my impatience. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know done what I asked you, Jones?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" tell him that I know him to be innocent." "She will not sell." chance at all." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass spark where all is dark to me." minor matters until to-morrow." you?' "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Then I do not see the point." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of clang of the bell. "And why in hopes?" attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Certainly." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Here?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the such attractions and accomplishments?' had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a recover the gem." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the