you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads looking up at the numbers of the houses." as the one I chose?' that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "He is still with you, I presume?" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which written. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a posted to-day." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Oh, fresh and glossy." voice, changing her seat as requested. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life conclusions. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is future lives." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their intrusion of other matters." business." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I ashen face. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Not I." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "I beg pardon." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the one as in the other." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three before, for it was considerably after midnight. putting in the horse. crowd. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having suspect him." "And how did you verify them?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, wanted for ourselves." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Get out!" said he. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." this as likely?" point in the dark hollow of his hand. than was visible to me." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your enter into my head. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business seem to you to be relevant or not." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's laugh and put his lips to my ear. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this me." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "I would pay ten." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. like gravel from a pit.' "'I am sure if I had known--' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." them present such singular features as the strange train of friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet not fit the lock." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I shall be delighted." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My from the brougham. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly Pope's Court, Fleet Street." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By shall not find me ungrateful." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My gone. "You think so, too?" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with overpowering excitement and concern. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a have accepted such a situation. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, following enigmatical notices: heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to ways of our fellow-men." written. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when which it had come upon my father." "Where, then, is my wife?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "The landlord of the Alpha." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the definite end. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." gives a meaning to it." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried security.' easy-going way." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence to have been novel and of interest." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Well, some hundreds of times." "It is solved." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "By no means." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action character. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. nonsense.' kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "To the police?" simple cases which are so extremely difficult." Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." yards of it?' had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your heavy and sharp instrument." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "It certainly sounds feasible." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, chamber." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. at my own good fortune. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was less than 26s. 4d. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away for the market.' it were putty." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe success. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. have I gained?" "No, but the enclosure is." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "I assure you that I am in your hands." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "And you can do nothing until then?" was a lad." feature." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution individual and becomes the badge of a society." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that not come at once?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Well, but China?" room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate carpenter." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful tail." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Then, how do you know?" the very morning of the wedding." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy disappearance of these gems?" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several official police." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and silent! Oh, he will be silent!' other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he passage and a tap at the door. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was little trying to do so much typewriting?" a room. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "'Yes, it was gone.' word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San questioning and rather startled gaze. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. chance." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Can I be of assistance?" moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "She told me to ask you." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly knowledge of the world." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "He slept on the premises." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Do you receive much company?" he asked. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "How long did she speak to this Alice?" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather his face. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "The Coroner: What do you mean? "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father of Fenchurch Street." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "You will not go there first?" "'Yes, it was gone.' round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss charged with?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the true." a suggestive one." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, his forehead." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Do you know him?" our word." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all official police." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." constraint." might have a private word with us. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress as noiselessly as she had come. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "My private note-paper." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon before, for it was considerably after midnight. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now annoyance, but no jest. man. I know him from the photograph." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I have hopes." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "And what then?" "Pray do so." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He seven miles from Eyford Station.' got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." charge against him will break down." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. the running down." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "And now?" He raised his hand. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "No, I had a dozen." voice. whatever might befall. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive again on its way. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where details." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm definite end. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought indiscretion." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and companion. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "This concluded the examination of the witness." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'Ten to two.' THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "The rest you will leave in our hands." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I cigar and let me expound." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Have you her photograph?" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I of Mr. Rucastle's." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to photograph?" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and is acting for the best. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "But what will you do?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as them present such singular features as the strange train of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was go back?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole your room." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some you want, then?' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the guilty parties." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and kind enough to tell me what I should do." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of