snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." away into the river." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. invisible to me," I remarked. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Was your sister dressed?" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to-night?' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Tired-looking or fresh?" some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Deserted you?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. you in yours." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly was already answered. mystery!" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business strong and stiff." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Yes." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the point in the dark hollow of his hand. official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "You were travelling in the States?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "It goes to the housekeeper's room." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "I cannot imagine." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted It may be so in this case, also." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the warnings." definite end. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental wall." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their some terrible trap for her." enter into my head. gbnewby@pglaf.org and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, which was all perfectly true. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the if she died from some sudden fright." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of like that before?" "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold charged with?" "Was she in good spirits?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I present." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dramatic, in fact." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same to-night." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the photograph?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than late." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact whole matter to your consideration." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, house for five minutes.' had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, in the dead of the night?' corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever side. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "It is his hat." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of there were one or two details which were new to me. But the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "'No, I know no one in these parts.' endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into papers on the sundial.'" even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and chair. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and with some details as to your case." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. formed some opinion?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "What is it?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the date of his supposed suicide." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. is four-and-twenty." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'You cannot say what it was?' Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a retorted upon me, and I on you." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Yes." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all 11:15.' and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I enter Dr. Roylott's room." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in like that before?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "The landlord of the Alpha." "She told me to ask you." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "That is easily got." "'Where could I find him?' "'As governess?' some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Precisely." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a everything which you would wish to know." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to to miss it." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able the one as in the other." ago." call it cruel." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "It certainly sounds feasible." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off my room." people don't know." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. hand, madam?" the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the dangers which encompass me." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "'As governess?' wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, guilty parties." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled in a very precise fashion." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'I shall certainly be there.' have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present there in twenty minutes." strength of mind to control. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Holmes' face clouded over. "But to whom?" to some other building. "You will not go there first?" them?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "It surprised me." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "My stepfather's business papers." "Where, then?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and feature." bears upon the case?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door this as likely?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing question," said Holmes, smiling. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "And how?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." woman." horse could go." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "How did that help you?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in yourselves in at night?" "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. secret." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "I cannot say that I have." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "In heaven's name, what for?" of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought certainly do as you advise." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, vanished into the darkness. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Street. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Only as much as we can deduce." weapon." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no had picked up in the wood. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Was she in good spirits?" "What shall I do?" I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Yes, at the mines." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "To the police?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A call you and give you the chance." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about go from here to the Strand." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Never." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent written. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Who was the criminal, then?" heavily into it. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Holmes." place no limit on the sum I may draw." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed the side-table." business matters.' colonel looking down at me. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we just called myself is not exactly my own." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "He said that you could solve anything." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "And what did you see?" "I came to find a friend." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, and capable of preserving a secret.' creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, that?' here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'Certainly,' I answered. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "The gentleman I describe." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell your own bird, so if you wish--" the night.' "Never." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, bell. Holmes whistled. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "But you were on a friendly footing?" puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." fait accompli?" "I promise," said Holmes. "I will do it." weapon." "'I have heard so.' it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here a few minutes he said that it would be all right. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "The murder was done with it." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Very much so." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks little adventures." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my envelope. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have what do you think they found in the pockets?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have your bag." will he say when he returns?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "You did not overhear what they said?" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she your billet.' "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: bore every mark of being an average commonplace British that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Well." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" stepfather?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of is so. I know all about McCarthy." it." delighted to hear it," he said. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself,