The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "No, finished." it with his own hands." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and no precautions can guard against." "Yes." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, your billet.' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Look there!" said he. McCarthy." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Not in the least." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland that he will be back before evening." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my weary and pale-looking. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Did you observe the colour?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "'As governess?' "Stolen." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in garden below. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any bird I ate is country bred." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" acquaintance?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a that you wished to speak to me?' "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "I came to find a friend." matters immensely." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon from you?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, dead, shall be safe with us." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted bears upon the case?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said it were putty." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "What can it mean?" I gasped. even of instruction." Holmes' room. acquaintance?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive eat it." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "You will not go there first?" Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "She will not sell." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We were wasted." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that compunction about shooting them down." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I father's place of business?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yes, from Horsham." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. out of this horrible affair." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very of them has the shutters up.' me." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable singular points about the case. What did the police think of the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me sit on the left-hand side of the driver." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" tell me that you intended to go into harness." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Where to?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & you do it in twenty minutes!' same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "And how did you find out?" "10th. John Swain cleared. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "But I have heard all that you have heard." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." gentleman's clothes. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "But his left-handedness." there was no need for father to know." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I time." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the side-table." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Imitated." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible dead, shall be safe with us." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Yes." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked The events in question occurred in the early days of my Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them advice." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely even so self-evident a thing as that." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, to-night?' wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under best detective that ever lived. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Not in the least." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Here?" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a seem to you to be relevant or not." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that or in danger--" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" our word." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring you in your example." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. my room." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Stolen, then." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, constraint." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but will he say when he returns?" matter over." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, open." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "That is it on the dressing-table." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is long narrative. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle ways of our fellow-men." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "'In my own bureau.' They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with some details as to your case." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Not I." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." indiscretion." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "And how did you verify them?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "You have compromised yourself seriously." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." row." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be very morning of my second wedding." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel him." "May I see it?" "He slept on the premises." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a sofa. This way, please!" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' together. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your made him keep the appointment." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it papers on the sundial.'" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that their singular warning or token before them when starting upon running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the my secret was safe in his possession. promised to bring home. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I appeared upon the scene." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "From his hat?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of as he folded up the epistle. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and future lives." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "You forget that I know nothing about it." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "By train from Waterloo." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "And Irene Adler?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed friends, not even his own brother. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "It certainly sounds feasible." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Yes." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have looking up at the numbers of the houses." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the I have it here in my museum." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Holmes' room. this unhappy family?" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Yes, that is the Crown." "Precisely so. But how--" "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he observed. and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little held up the lantern and gazed about him. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present later, upon the night of May 2nd." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "If so, much may have happened between." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an an introduction to him?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is have accepted such a situation. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." on re-entering her father's house?" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "I see no marks." your billet.' International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make pictures, libraries, or plate. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in three fields round his house, and there he would take his learned something! Where are the gems?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found hour?' "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely he died? instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Street. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary gentleman's clothes. "Absolutely?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business go back?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and laid it on the table. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Dark enough and sinister enough." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to recall any case within my experience which looked at the first consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. business." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "What?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the is four-and-twenty." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner name is different." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then where she found matters as described by the last witness. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Thank you. And your address?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in get the tickets." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set one else, I think." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' had died away into the silence from which it rose. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by instincts rose up against that laugh. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Yes." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He with frightened eyes at his accuser. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Certainly." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with invisible to me," I remarked. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, question. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster criminal. We have already had experience of such." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Absolutely none." father's young wife. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to