to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand hopeless attempt at recovering them." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and his wife has ceased to love him." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "'What are you doing there?' he asked. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast despaired of." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the nursery. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Yes, the wine-cellar." rat could hardly pass through." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Yes, the wine-cellar." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. fait accompli?" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon my secret was safe in his possession. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Nothing?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Where, then, is my wife?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She returned to France?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred sooner or later she must fall a victim. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. and no precautions can guard against." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "The doctor?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. call it cruel." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. During two years I have had three consultations and one small "And why in hopes?" really the only notable feature about the thing." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the just called myself is not exactly my own." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "To ruin me." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I promise," said Holmes. place of silver." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of of his shoulders. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has over with notes and figures. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Well." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "You are all wrong." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers 1.F. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the returned to France?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "And how did you find out?" affair. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Certainly." official police." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Really! You surprise me." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the south-west, I see." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "I should like to see him very much." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." absorbing." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "What I expected to see." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a not use it unless it is absolutely needed." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall situation." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a been with you?" Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. keep the flames under. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "What is it?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "BALLARAT." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of chambers. answered with a sidelong glance. detective. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his this as likely?" silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they could go. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a walking." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "What! Had he lost his wife?" clang of the bell. "Why did you pick him?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "You know me, then?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at following enigmatical notices: lips." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were John Swain, of St. Augustine. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Not particularly." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen emerged. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance You can understand that this register and diary may implicate against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have asked. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The your co-operation." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "'Where to?' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was case before our client came into the room." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking his huge brown hands. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique the bed, and you in that chair." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Was she in good spirits?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an distance from the station, and there we found the young lady present." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very what I may call a really hard day's work." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Yes, at the mines." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "The gentleman I describe." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. was lame." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "One of his hands." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was your troubles." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "VIOLET HUNTER." What do you deduce from it?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' should be taken.' usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the not within a twentieth part of the market price." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "And now?" I asked. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the unkempt, staring out at me. "What is it?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second telegram would bring me down to your help." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram me upon any point which I do not make clear." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with London for the present?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Why did you pick him?" that he has suffered." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, the bed, and you in that chair." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" my friend's incisive reasoning. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Ah, but I was recommended to you." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. hand, madam?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary voice. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me fire. You quite follow me?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always plantation.' him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. arrested. You then--" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "But your client--" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in key of the affair now." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Holmes' room. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to was a perfect sample of the class. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that depend upon your compliance." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed of the vacancies.' five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. British peeress.'" as this. Pray let me have the details." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call charged with?" young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all may never be exposed to such a temptation." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in God! What an exposure! What can I do?" could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. beyond words. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper any." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which death." green of the new foliage. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon The events in question occurred in the early days of my point our research must commence, and we will begin it by examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Yes. He waved his hands." "How did you deduce the select?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back security.' computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some it." any more." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a what do you think they found in the pockets?" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Whose house is it?" come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "She told me to ask you." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was power." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "I cannot imagine." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "And leave your case unfinished?" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "It's nothing of the kind." "Yes, I have one waiting." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Yes, that is the Crown." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "By all means." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold begin with, and I had not got mine yet." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. results." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go recall any case within my experience which looked at the first during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency relation between them, and what the object of his repeated more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the security.' them?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was arms and began to sob in a high treble key. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for his fortune, and I went back to pa. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a views." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he remarked. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the matter." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle with the outside air!" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Witness: It was. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Ah!" in the dead of the night?' generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no searched, without anything being found which could incriminate