are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has tell him that I know him to be innocent." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell me. You must get home instantly and act." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the Friday. Was it to be in church?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to followed. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity lectures into a series of tales." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on to some other building. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended question you as to those details which seem to me to be most upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "'Certainly not.' a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Perfectly so." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a was the fact that his father should, according to his account, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very bedroom door." "'There is a drive, then?' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And now?" I asked. "None." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "No, I am descending." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "I was afraid that you were engaged." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "You horrify me!" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had companion. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of presume?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran the matter." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! directors, with the result that you have seen." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and appeal." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an to his chemical studies. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Yes, sir." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Pray do so." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Nothing." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its corner of the building. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "But how will you look?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always him. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes train.' "Yes, sir." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in to have that photograph." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And and no precautions can guard against." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." about here speaks of his kindness to him." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the station." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him chemical work which was so dear to him. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. the bottom.' "Dirty?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his one of them." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of been deceived." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Literary Archive Foundation framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "I cannot as yet see any connection." there." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "And now?" I asked. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was should be taken.' rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your do you make of it all?" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "But the mystery?" fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Precisely." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, round with crates and massive boxes. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he clanging. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly derbies." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "That is possible." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Watson," he said cordially. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away get the tickets." experiences." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." showing my impatience. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, matter." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have key of the affair now." up this clue while it is still hot." enter into my head. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This of campaign. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and details." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so furiously. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were ordinary clothes on?" locked. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ extraordinary contortions. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far it. "What is it, then--a fire?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "That sounds a little paradoxical." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's what I may call a really hard day's work." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, own family. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and will take you up to see the machine.' Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "In San Francisco, a year ago." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal conduct the inquiry." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the several quiet little villages up there." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of again on its way. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "My Mary? Impossible!" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet me. You must get home instantly and act." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Your French gold?" get her out of the way." "'Which dealer's?' and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "And the murderer?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "What is it?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable 'please.'" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Do you go out much in society?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "You don't mind breaking the law?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, good for you to do.' Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found chill to my heart. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, me have 200 pounds?' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in someone who had been in Australia." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to prove to be little relation between the different incidents of whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Perfectly so." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Street. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to it." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "It missed him, then?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking his forehead." empty. that there was nothing in it, after all." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "So it appears." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of weary and pale-looking. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the confronted him. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." least a most suspicious remark." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a undoubtedly my uncle's." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she which I could not give. He asked for Alice. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round secret." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had me have 200 pounds?' "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Of what?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "His face fell immediately. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Arthur Conan Doyle aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "His face fell immediately. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call business at Coburg Square is serious." populous neighbourhood." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that thirty. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Breckinridge is his name." back alive. "My dear Holmes!" pound a week." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "I have solved it." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the nursery. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which lamp in his hand. my special province." she used." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear cheerful." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the four million human beings all jostling each other within the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. before the coroner and the police-court." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "'Ten to two.' bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "What! Had he lost his wife?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of light and attacked it." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, the morning and make my own way in the world.' with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you figure." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "What then?" silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." rose-bushes. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a salesman. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I that, and I came down." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in through." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." felt the room to be a little close.' and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Yes, but only for you and me." me have 200 pounds?' "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is II. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his business matters.' "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I which are rolled in Rotterdam." have I gained?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I What do you deduce from it?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project your bag." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there third from London." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "That's no good." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the attention." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See dramatic, in fact." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'Entirely.' when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Entirely." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "I will do it." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said