some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both do you make of it all?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "'Certainly,' I answered. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "It is half-past ten now." what I may call a really hard day's work." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock you want, then?' could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "The gentleman I describe." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against said he at last. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates your only hope of safety." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the stones. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock face and glided from the room. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, daring than any effort of the imagination." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "This concluded the examination of the witness." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has absorbing." "That is not always so easy." amused." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "What have you done?" asked Holmes. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Eyford at 11:15.' matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his test if we have an answer to our advertisement." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "It was." weapon." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we You want to know what became of those geese?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "No." "Witness: I must still refuse. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, was already answered. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow indeed which he could not unravel. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Project Gutenberg-tm works. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about you?' 1.F. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "One of his hands." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in business." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever fluttered off among the others. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to sound at heart." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own client, rising. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, have accepted such a situation. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. chance at all." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped meant it for the best. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Did he not advertise?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he to me. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well is so. I know all about McCarthy." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "You will not go there first?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a wife's character?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Not in a good cause." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a be sorry for having acted so harshly." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "Yesterday." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "I am all attention, madam." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Certainly." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that ill-usage at the hands of fortune. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "'Most admirably.' residence of the great financier. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a foresight and the moral retrogression?" several quiet little villages up there." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called lumber-room." in a friendly supper." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were chance at all." closing the door. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the electronic works "That is not always so easy." "But of what society?" business came to an end." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far correct than the official force." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the room while you explain this matter?" occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old manager. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "But I am all in the dark." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others straightened it out again. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "But what harm can there be in that?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." disappearance of these gems?" "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Why? What do you mean?" investigation." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a rat could hardly pass through." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Only as much as we can deduce." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, companion. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had present." think you a quite exceptional woman." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "What steps will you take?" I asked. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." I shall communicate with you." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his pound a week." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other followed. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it weighed down with some great anxiety. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I cheerful." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked guilty parties." think, you have already met." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously affection." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached fire. You quite follow me?" he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Pray do so." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly believe that I should never have any practice at all. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Ah!" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we seen the man in the road." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "What can it mean?" I gasped. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each appointment with me for six o'clock?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell situation." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, go from here to the Strand." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have you, my dear young lady?' and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the coronet in his hands?" "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "VIOLET HUNTER." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and your Highness to the police-station?" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' DAMAGE. "I will get her to show me." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the south-west, I see." "No. What a strange idea!" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Breckinridge is his name." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So to change my dress. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I will get her to show me." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others narrative." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. question. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the security.' do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong indeed happy." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "And leave your case unfinished?" "I am armed." "Yes." him to be an active member of the medical profession." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Do you go out much in society?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents away into the river." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY waste of energy." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, union?" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates were wasted." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an envelope. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Cross for the Continent." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and and have this put in the evening papers." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "No, but the enclosure is." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "And what did you learn from him?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "She told me to ask you." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "And for present expenses?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a it means?" and the whole place is in a blaze." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and you in yours." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend populous neighbourhood." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Was she in good spirits?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. Pool. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I beg pardon." for its centre. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and for and were ordered to this address. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Lestrade of Scotland Yard." client, rising. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of retorted upon me, and I on you." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and better in every way that they should make their position a little received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "You have compromised yourself seriously." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I congenial hunt. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "No?" "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "But to whom?" in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "'I have heard so.' ago." "I cannot as yet see any connection." make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a he bowed and left the room without another word. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs morning." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too digesting their breakfasts at home." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "You horrify me." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be villagers almost as much as their master. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the instituted." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "I am in hopes that she does." His smile broadened. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running what do you think they found in the pockets?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be sooner or later she must fall a victim. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, newspaper selections." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' cost them two and thirty pounds." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Then I can wait in the next room." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it gone before you can get him to hospital." remarked. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the my little problems." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. such person." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might tear off another piece?' her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting,