"We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on the loss of it. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "'Certainly not.' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his direction." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, think, you have already met." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to go from here to the Strand." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, to arrive at through this?" "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers the room while you explain this matter?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" again, where I was soon asleep. "Thank you. And your address?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the easy-going way." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. went to the Alpha were town bred." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you carried out of court." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Yes, but only for you and me." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and man. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Holmes, the busybody!" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that there was nothing in it, after all." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I would pay ten." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for all-comprehensive glances. occurred." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'Very good.' week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "He said too much." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great 'please.'" felt the room to be a little close.' way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture which should have the effect of calling the attention of the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Count Von Kramm." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, populous neighbourhood." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "None. Neville wrote those words." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and kindly on the shoulder. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "And how have you succeeded?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these careless servant girl?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "You have carte blanche." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the woven round him. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "He might." meanly of me." individual and becomes the badge of a society." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I shall most certainly do so." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My digesting their breakfasts at home." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "What then?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "And help." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his of Mr. Rucastle's." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature rose-bushes. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "I cannot tell." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to 'please.'" hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a The note was undated, and without either signature or address. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. the little opening for the ventilator is." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will his forehead." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "My last client of the sort was a king." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "I am to be neutral?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this during that time.' all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Project Gutenberg-tm works. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At this as likely?" "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the down. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with the devil!" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the driver. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a me have 200 pounds?' "And your father? Did you tell him?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the for the market.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem there is a decided draught." acted in my house last night?" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Heh?' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "But what harm can there be in that?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of late." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are better in every way that they should make their position a little unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I say it is." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they heavy and sharp instrument." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Of what day?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the King without delay." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy to go into your room and bar your shutters?" hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite once more to my work. cause to be." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the always that they were such commands as a lady might with it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, good-night and bustled off upon her way. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming test if we have an answer to our advertisement." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was since then to throw any light upon what became of him." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my fled together." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "'And the work?' form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of hopeless attempt at recovering them." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "The doctor?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'I am sure if I had known--' turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all other lovers by making love himself." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "No sign of it?" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Not him." to a light-house. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning the little opening for the ventilator is." guilty parties." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." most interesting one." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly strode off upon his way. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year for and were ordered to this address. "You think that he is dead?" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who a room. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the coat-tails." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk exactly what you advise." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "You think that he is dead?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." orange pips. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "'I shall certainly be there.' and that he would see to anything that turned up. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have papers must be those that are destroyed.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." standing smiling on the door-step. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Well, some hundreds of times." tightly behind him. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an very peculiar words of the dying woman?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "You are hungry," I remarked. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I never have." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few prison!" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get hand, madam?" at once, for I have only half an hour." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy other, as fresh and trim as possible. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what tail." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he there." "You have compromised yourself seriously." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. as noiselessly as she had come. "Certainly." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. minor matters until to-morrow." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "None." "You were travelling in the States?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "You saw the ventilator, too?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations help us in this matter." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now man. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a gigantic client. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had