even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project cigars in their mouths. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "My private note-paper." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of within hail.' Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Imitated." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Pope's Court. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether his face. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the roots. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a nonsense.' cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said examine." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, outsides of the windows. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and one's self under obligations.' suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little leaning back in his chair. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. unclasping of his long thin hands. "You don't mind breaking the law?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "And how did you find out?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its that he will be back before evening." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I became a certainty. breakfast." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." girl said." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "The doctor?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. shall use the carriage to-night." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De prison!" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's himself to hunt down. sneer upon his pale face. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive that, and I came down." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of Gutenberg-tm License. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned compunction about shooting them down." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we really the only notable feature about the thing." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent to have that photograph." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived out of this horrible affair." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I think that it is very probable." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; II. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a back alive. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Then what has happened to him?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Where, then?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. have had none more fantastic than this." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle charge against him will break down." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "I beg pardon." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" bonnet, and went out." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Mrs. Toller serenely. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came the armchair which I pushed forward for him. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary companion imperturbably. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of article?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "I am in hopes that she does." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my papers on the sundial.'" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or tied." was keenly on my guard against him. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "What do you make of that, Watson?" from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is done what I asked you, Jones?" "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Quite so." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long whereabouts. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over minor matters until to-morrow." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" direction." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up dead, shall be safe with us." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a be.' no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil trying to your nerves." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. that threaten you." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "In what way?" asked Holmes. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips business matters.' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one from you?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "BALLARAT." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "He slept on the premises." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, Chief Executive and Director Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not letters?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. my special province." It may be so in this case, also." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking upon an income of about 60 pounds." in. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the garden below. and the church but not where the lady lived." approach us with offers to donate. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found criminal. We have already had experience of such." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Get out!" said he. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I am in hopes that she does." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, remarked. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "The best possible." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now been shamefully used." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My present." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in to a light-house. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "So I am. Very much so." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "My stepfather's business papers." gigantic client. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story weapon." disturbance in my wife." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the inquest, and which are worth considering." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "No legal papers or certificates?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then criminal. We have already had experience of such." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Dr. Gregory B. Newby "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other you for a few hours?" points to suicide?" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon learned something! Where are the gems?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "What can you not understand?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "What will you do, then?" through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Because he was handy and would come cheap." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "That you are never beaten." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project chance at all." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I shall continue with my miserable story. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to question. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "There are none." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "I promise," said Holmes. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "You will not go there first?" "It missed him, then?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Do you go out much in society?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis tightly behind him. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "Thank you. Pray proceed." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "No, finished." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight handed it to him. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction was not a bird to be seen there. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I have hopes." horse could go." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a call for it in person on Monday morning.' "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in kindly on the shoulder. chill to my heart. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Thank you. And your address?" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Then, as to money?" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" with you?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "At the wedding breakfast." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted had no one to advise her at such a crisis." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "And I." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of way in everything. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the running down." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, hair?' Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales troubles have been weighing upon his mind. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "It is no ordinary one." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen business at Coburg Square is serious." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the stones. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the wife's character?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "We must have a cab." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a his face. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'Never.' lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the