other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it said Mr. Holder. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a brandy and water within his reach. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Countess of Morcar's?" cheerful." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my intimate personal affairs in this public manner." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." take the flies, but not before." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or vanished into the darkness. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "I am to be neutral?" we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so signal between you and your father? traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Stolen." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the annoyance, but no jest. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give into the bag, and made for the door. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I will do it." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, is four-and-twenty." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a on re-entering her father's house?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "I cannot tell." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting more terrible than the truth. man. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I should be immensely obliged to you." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" "My Mary? Impossible!" have had none more fantastic than this." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which she has been waylaid. There has been no result." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "A thing like a cleaver," said he. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "'In my own bureau.' He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "And I say east," said my patient. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her be sorry for having acted so harshly." congratulate you again." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Not social, then?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. is a common subject for conversation. "Ten will be early enough." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Which are?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, strange features which were associated with the two crimes which neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "But how will you look?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in unkempt, staring out at me. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "What steps will you take?" I asked. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at fluttered off among the others. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but breakfast." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Very much so." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the have one." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on woman who has had her own way to make in the world. of." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "No. What a strange idea!" "Not particularly." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Project Gutenberg-tm works. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which it. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to to-night." "Not yet." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table chambers. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Holmes, the busybody!" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual subject to the trademark license, especially commercial aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Her father is very rich?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I don't say that. Perhaps." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good answer." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, money should be paid at once.' police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall unkempt, staring out at me. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his directly by questioning you." "Quite so. She has her freedom." fire. You quite follow me?" he bowed and left the room without another word. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Yes, there are nearly always some there." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "No, I am descending." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. was keenly on my guard against him. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest for the market.' companion. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." have got?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Mary, has deserted me." "10th. John Swain cleared. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." shoulder. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "When did it break out?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our and capable of preserving a secret.' "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Literary Archive Foundation "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. villagers almost as much as their master. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, events, Mr. Windibank!" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, there in twenty minutes." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he when your master had gone out." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. attention." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to it." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning any." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they plantation.' "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "'What, the red-headed man?' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Never to return." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Really! You surprise me." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, used to be." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his and glanced through. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! up this clue while it is still hot." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could the iron safe, which he closed upon it. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "'Very good.' "And you don't know his address?" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then I approached. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before allusion to a rat. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it where Mr. Fordham shows you.' an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a following enigmatical notices: hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while and capable of preserving a secret.' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no both be extremely obliged.' that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon washing it down with a long draught of water. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "It surprised me." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if which it had come upon my father." me. "'And the work?' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have had formerly been in part my own. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what meant." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and feature." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close an introduction to him?" narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time your bag." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three with her." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he minor matters until to-morrow." IS cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Nothing." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" in this way: importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me green of the new foliage. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "'Ten to two.' "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "How did you trace it, then?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I have come for advice." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "'I am sure that I do not know.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and putting in the horse. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical heavy and sharp instrument." are, and they are waiting for us." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "I see no marks." the matter?" There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and footfalls from the street. lumber-room." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to words came to my lips. people in all walks of life. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Yes, it was twisted." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given points to suicide?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, of your young ladies.' "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Yes, only one." "'A dozen yards or so.' "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post fact, we may call it conclusive." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An