"But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "And on what day did he meet his death?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Pray do so." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business instincts rose up against that laugh. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of be best to do. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: strength." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Absolutely none." "But not more so than I to find you." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. of the one which your family is now devouring." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "What are they?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw within hail.' "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the bedroom door." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to over with notes and figures. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'Most admirably.' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of maiden herself was most instructive." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "My Mary? Impossible!" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs in one or two places in England?' "And what then?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial think that any burglar could have done. if only as a check to my own memory." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the King without delay." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid when your master had gone out." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Why, what do you mean?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Where is it, then?" smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE hour?' I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, leaning back in his chair. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "None." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the all-comprehensive glances. strong and stiff." 'please.'" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed bare slabs of marble. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left the address that was given us in the advertisement. with you alone." cigar and let me expound." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court to that open window." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. seven miles from Eyford Station.' "There are none." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it which it had come upon my father." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who cigars in the box." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this me, and I could not think that his explanation of the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "I have a cab outside." is a common subject for conversation. "She showed me, as I told you she would." "'There is a drive, then?' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as me what he had done with the three missing stones. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to papers." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried call you and give you the chance." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "That is unusual in a young girl." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature she to prove their authenticity?" better grown goose." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I such person." miles off. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, good for you to do.' rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this manager. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: direction." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want like that before?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled more terrible than the truth. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one him!" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'A dozen yards or so.' "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Was he the only applicant?" impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length placed his cuttings. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the was keenly on my guard against him. nonsense.' "A confidential servant?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a was shining brightly. and glanced through. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "You have but to name it." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and electronic works his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country without a word or a look. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "He said too much." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been used to be." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "About a month then." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Did you observe the colour?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Serpentine Avenue. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a humiliation." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg unprecedented a position." papers." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary horse could go." annoyance, but no jest. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in business at Coburg Square is serious." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her redistribution. stood on the top of it. "We must have a cab." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." business." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "I know where it is." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you 'please.'" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "I am still in the dark." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he depend upon my doing so.' Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole I. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The only touch the interest." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect 11:15.' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a and the colonel ushered me in. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "'Stolen!' he cried. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes records." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. sneer upon his pale face. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon fattened it expressly for you.' sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester that he will be back before evening." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "How on earth--" "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked sound at heart." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Where did he live, then?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" way in." "'How far from the body?' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that a good hundred miles off by now." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his go--none." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "I cannot imagine." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, thought that she would have been so carried away." it were putty." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed cigar and let me expound." man. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. than was visible to me." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing quite distinctive." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman acquaintance?" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner tightly behind him. "Did your wife hear all this?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Pray do so." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the be. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this