ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Upon what point?" "10th. John Swain cleared. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never sofa. This way, please!" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign shall not find me ungrateful." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Entirely." lamp in his hand. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "The landlord of the Alpha." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we strength in the others." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Texas, I think." "By train from Waterloo." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must your room." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "How did he come?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be something of him before." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "No." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your villagers almost as much as their master. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have never will be, entirely cleared up. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "ARAT," I read. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are the bottom.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time like that before?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We as yours." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day as this. Pray let me have the details." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found were new raised from a basin. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and next day. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "From his hat?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I would pay ten." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all them, and came down just as you departed. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who there in twenty minutes." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That thin legs towards the fire. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger sentimental considerations in the background which would induce more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend me. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be this truth that in these little records of our cases which you his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were behind me. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "They are typewritten," I remarked. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying soul! here is her carriage at the door." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your the stones. the one as in the other." province." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I to where he stood hid behind the curtain. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "I see no marks." it." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "I am about to be married." again before evening." States. go from here to the Strand." "Yes." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action too. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small entirely devoid of interest." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the roots. gone. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate was the fact that his father should, according to his account, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Look there!" said he. south, for the country is more deserted there." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "And Irene Adler?" sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea strode off upon his way. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small affair. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a through." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "And is that all?" "You have but to name it." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I matters immensely." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "Well, but China?" of this gang." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," to-morrow." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." occurred." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the which was all perfectly true. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Very. But will he see it?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "None." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the bed, and you in that chair." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." companion. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. showing my impatience. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "What do you make of that, Watson?" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun http://www.gutenberg.net which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith and laid it on the table. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these hand, madam?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you way in." prisoner's face. room?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress over with notes and figures. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "'Yes, it was gone.' silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from John Swain, of St. Augustine. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was morning." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I was mad--insane." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "You don't mind breaking the law?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my conduct the inquiry." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, Holmes' room. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry as this. Pray let me have the details." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Yes, from Horsham." "I guessed as much." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "But to whom?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" wanted for ourselves." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; did not hear it also.' look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to make me his representative both with the servants and with the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent man. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." exactly what you advise." "And is that all?" of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could went to the Alpha were town bred." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some call it cruel." six. Come in!" excitement. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "You forget that I know nothing about it." "And your mother is alive?" emerged. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "May I see it?" lost nothing by them." foresight and the moral retrogression?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "He slept on the premises." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask help us in this matter." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, a suggestive one." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and was a lad." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' possible that we could bring him back to her? Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Here?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with not within a twentieth part of the market price." papers." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in the general public were present, then?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your this poor creature." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily companion. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "You think that he is dead?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." License. You must require such a user to return or receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue you?' and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what village inn over there?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your door?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "So I am. Very much so." "Holmes, the busybody!" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." stepfather?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "To ruin me." "You were travelling in the States?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Nothing." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Ample." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Pray continue your narrative." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "How can you tell that?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon derbies." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the this Miss Turner." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "'Certainly not. But why?' were unconscious?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm if only as a check to my own memory." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. system of imprisonment?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he assist you in forming an opinion." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at room. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as I have it here in my museum." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. strong and stiff." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "I am armed." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Yes, it was twisted." the inner apartment." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a think you a quite exceptional woman." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend whatever might befall. the driver. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known the coroner come to?" the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Then I can wait in the next room." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "You did not overhear what they said?" with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Doctor, of the paper and the date." is now desirous of getting those letters back." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to