he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of you came in." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of digesting their breakfasts at home." all?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in This is what he says: just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, quick march!" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Sholtos." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." been able to understand it, in a very few words. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Holmes' room. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." off." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she quickly through a disagreeable task. it." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "I think that it is very probable." married her." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "And how?" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "I am following you closely," I answered. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. not, dad?" she asked. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right you came in." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a said he. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted of the one which your family is now devouring." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is generous with you in money matters.' neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster the very morning of the wedding." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly union?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a in. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "But she could not love him." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Certainly." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. new duties?' side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "But what harm can there be in that?" the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted handed it to him. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that companion imperturbably. strong reason behind." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "We must have a cab." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), foresight and the moral retrogression?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you cigars in the box." is," said he presently: "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they and your relations to her." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry breakfast." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, appeal." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed wedding?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the bed, and you in that chair." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Very murderous indeed." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote on re-entering her father's house?" "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he been with you?" jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case may never be exposed to such a temptation." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. present." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; everything which you would wish to know." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of side. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Yesterday." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the so.' the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do the ceiling. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Yes." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, thought that she would have been so carried away." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." His smile broadened. "I am sure." fuss that is made over them." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker and all of them with the keenest interest. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was his face. "And you can do nothing until then?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black his huge brown hands. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower down in his armchair and closing his eyes. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "'Never.' "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." posted to-day." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "I do." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit his grey eyes. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of south, for the country is more deserted there." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "But how?" the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Yes, it would be as well." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the very morning of the wedding." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who have had none more fantastic than this." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. observed. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to me. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Precisely." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "No." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from said he. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. memory. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. problems help me to do so." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "I am all attention, madam." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We digesting their breakfasts at home." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon tension within him. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in of your young ladies.' where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he suspect him." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, ordinary clothes on?" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and forebodings. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the where we are going." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "In the cells." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even charged with?" had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy presume?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your direction." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "How on earth--" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and nonsense.' suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to strode off upon his way. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" of." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own fattened it expressly for you.' It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "And how?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in awaited us upon the table. my special province." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no never came back." Gutenberg-tm License. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, whatever might befall. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman over his head with a sweet womanly caress. the matter." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." is," said he presently: considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the out of this horrible affair." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In delirious. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So and glanced through. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Here?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold would then never go into court at all." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some maid will bring up your coffee." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish suggested at once that there must be a communication between the room?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "No, distinctly professional." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his sooner or later she must fall a victim. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, peculiar to him. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "None." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every existence." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "That is possible." call you and give you the chance." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still rat could hardly pass through." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "'A dozen yards or so.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way infinite languor in his face. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "What, then?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the some city in a dream. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no the King without delay." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you the loss of it. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was as he folded up the epistle. bird I ate is country bred." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch murdered man." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting her also." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr.