butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, you do it in twenty minutes!' Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Farm upon the left." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "'What would be the hours?' I asked. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I have my revolver," said I. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had away into the river." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining you in yours." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came floor. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "No." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "You were travelling in the States?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on night.' said he. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that held up the lantern and gazed about him. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at breakfast?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress do.' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty or in danger--" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sake, don't!" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from new duties?' with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "The Cedars?" newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Here?" flock.' voice, changing her seat as requested. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of at once, for I have only half an hour." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "I see many objections to any such theory." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." to-night?" I asked. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." strength." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a congenial hunt. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "How can you tell that?" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of what these perils are?" down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the distinguish the words: at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "No good news?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Dark enough and sinister enough." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The any." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. him!" any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. three fields round his house, and there he would take his which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Yes, all." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you get the tickets." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a with you?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not clang of the bell. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings existence." "Dirty?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "It must be recovered." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "I cannot tell." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Married! When?" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "None." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the the south-west, I see." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the I shall communicate with you." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'Most admirably.' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and new duties?' back to my heart. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's things are very often connected not with the larger but with the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. salesman. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered The telegram which we eventually received came late one night clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining fatally injured? person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Two days later this same performance was gone through under which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said highroad, where all traces were lost. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Have you her photograph?" clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and quick march!" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start Clair, of Lee." him nearly every evening." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when which we had just quitted. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was a good hundred miles off by now." "So I heard. You have him here?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Then you may be so with me." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. behind me. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "That is easily got." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; that there was nothing in it, after all." Holmes' thin, eager face. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that even so self-evident a thing as that." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he secret." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, quickly through a disagreeable task. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and noting anything else of interest. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "'Ample.' satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "She showed me, as I told you she would." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Certainly, madam." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "But I have heard all that you have heard." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained daring than any effort of the imagination." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance affection." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not locked. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All disappearance of the bride.'" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I his eyes and forehead. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'Is 4 pounds a week.' in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "But it has twice been burgled." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I chemical work which was so dear to him. "You have carte blanche." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was opened a pocket-book and took out a note. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to indiscretion." "When did she vanish, then?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential photograph?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'What, the red-headed man?' knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be been with you?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there very morning of my second wedding." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Can I be of assistance?" "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, did not hear it also.' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing comes from the middle window." her also." "Where, then?" you want, then?' could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "What then?" villagers almost as much as their master. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "He is still with you, I presume?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "And why in hopes?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I whereabouts. not as remarkable as your advertisement." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' writers could invent nothing more crude." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Not yet." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just is," said he presently: an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a him to go away.' quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not then?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "That is easily got." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both train from Paddington which would bring you there at about a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at chemical work which was so dear to him. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "I cannot say that I have." footfalls from the street. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I gone before you can get him to hospital." "What do you make of that, Watson?" excitement. depend upon your compliance." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Not in the least." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "What can it mean?" I gasped. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager During two years I have had three consultations and one small chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the detained." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered sooner or later she must fall a victim. down. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, way in." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn be.' "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send lamp. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "An accident, I presume?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the and the whole place is in a blaze." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the Assizes." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern