extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "How do you know, then?" pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with young Openshaw's." you give your casting vote to?" which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Arthur Conan Doyle "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Serpentine Avenue. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Clair, of Lee." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his so.' It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "'Where to?' "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense woman." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The arrested. You then--" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the his face which made him a very different person to the round, fait accompli?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I say it is." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not himself in a perplexing position. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was prisoner's face. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. foot. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." cause to be." he died? "Well." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That girl said." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I will do it." towards the blaze. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with relation between them, and what the object of his repeated clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "We have tried and failed." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it where we are going." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found good-night and bustled off upon her way. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Not social, then?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "You are hungry," I remarked. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having before, for it was considerably after midnight. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a official police." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "What then?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "But you have hopes?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "At the wedding breakfast." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my asked. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me strong reason behind." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible recall any case within my experience which looked at the first deduce something from that?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with cigars in their mouths. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his bedroom door." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Certainly." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "But I have heard all that you have heard." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." voice. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his you in yours." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending silent! Oh, he will be silent!' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and it need not interfere very much with one's other "But what harm can there be in that?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord letters?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their which are rolled in Rotterdam." forecastle of an emigrant ship. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "10th. John Swain cleared. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "And how did you find out?" to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. directors, with the result that you have seen." "The landlord of the Alpha." security.' do.' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been someone who had been in Australia." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "I have come for advice." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could remarked. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat hand, madam?" night.' said he. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, again before evening." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns which was all perfectly true. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "'I have already given you my word.' where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he business came to an end." matter over." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive his knees, staring into the fire. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with cheerful." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; always that they were such commands as a lady might with thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep impression behind it as though a window had gently closed to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn true." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Then I do not see the point." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it nice household for a young lady." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. asked with his eyes open. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who already referred to. "No bad?" her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Then I do not see the point." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She hair?' with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. present." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Will you go?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "What can it mean?" I gasped. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the and inquire as to the address." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "I see no marks." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "No more words. Get out!" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "I never have." one else, I think." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful had formerly been in part my own. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "To the police?" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in and all of them with the keenest interest. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and shoulder. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." read over the extraordinary announcement. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good make me his representative both with the servants and with the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or for securing the situation." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. down. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call one which it was hard to resist. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "It is very clear." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days the night.' "Yes." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "And leave your case unfinished?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your lips." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Holmes' room. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried simple cases which are so extremely difficult." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she them present such singular features as the strange train of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the reach." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and respectable self." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked not use it unless it is absolutely needed." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, foot. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his I nodded again. Chief Executive and Director "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am way in." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions anything to a woman, for she would have her way." society." "It came here." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small passage and a tap at the door. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater coat-tails." his eyes and forehead. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric their singular warning or token before them when starting upon scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. help us in this matter." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, few hundred pounds.' "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "And what then?" "Well, but China?" case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Ten will be early enough." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some him!" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Not in the least." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this way in everything. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the hour." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I neither fascinating nor artistic." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "But how could you guess what the motive was?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "We were both in the photograph." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, despair." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a off." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps humiliation." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you of the one which your family is now devouring." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce lips." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum there in twenty minutes." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "If so, much may have happened between." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "I have my revolver," said I. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "It was." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were