back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled eat it." together. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "That sounds a little paradoxical." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. over part of the map. "What do you read?" We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "What, then, did Peterson do?" and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "I do." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' she might be summoned. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the King without delay." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the gone. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Imitated." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms washing it down with a long draught of water. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are purpose equally well?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." was a loud and authoritative tap. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the stammered. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Does that suggest anything?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, and looked back. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest recover the gem." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight reach." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself directors have had misgivings upon the subject." and all of them with the keenest interest. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from walking." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have few hundred pounds.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "What are they?" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, cigar and let me expound." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." gentleman's clothes. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from he bowed and left the room without another word. was a lad." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety it. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." best detective that ever lived. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a said he. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore distance from the station, and there we found the young lady fasten all the windows?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "And now?" He raised his hand. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted him to go away.' "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Yes." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 arrested. You then--" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have for the market.' "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I direction." present." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Perhaps we may make them less so." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "But I am all in the dark." "No?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Quite so. She has her freedom." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting even of instruction." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "And for present expenses?" "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our McCarthy." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily goes." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of four million human beings all jostling each other within the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "But how could you guess what the motive was?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling vault. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me putting in the horse. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Oh, yes, easily." "Yes, the wine-cellar." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of matter over." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear certainly do as you advise." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This murdered man." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful upon the shelf for the interim." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, never will be, entirely cleared up. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Look there!" said he. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. the south-west, I see." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. interested in these little problems, and since you are good "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "So I am. Very much so." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she o'clock is it?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "Was she in good spirits?" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been directors, with the result that you have seen." would then never go into court at all." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the roots. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "'Certainly,' I answered. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. outbreak?" advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'Certainly not.' the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "What is it?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "And I say east," said my patient. "I am in hopes that she does." over with notes and figures. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" jewels which you have stolen?' arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must fled together." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my clang of the bell. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid she has been waylaid. There has been no result." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for skylight. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. is a common subject for conversation. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, enter Dr. Roylott's room." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Stolen." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the him nearly every evening." more terrible than the truth. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "It must be recovered." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did like that before?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Here?" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said arrested. You then--" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and other lovers by making love himself." digesting their breakfasts at home." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her used to be." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one row." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Absolutely none." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Yes." "Then I do not see the point." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "But the mystery?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "It is no ordinary one." foot. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "It is half-past ten now." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'You doubt its value?' he asked. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! I shall communicate with you." "Oh, yes, easily." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "One of the highest in England." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "I have my revolver," said I. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. as this. Pray let me have the details." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand carriage. It was a chestnut." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the arrangements." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "None." returning from some small jollification and was making his way signal between you and your father? and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the cigars in the box." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would and no precautions can guard against." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am this man was intellectual?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you rooms." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us handed it to him. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you was lame." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "And why in hopes?" "Yes." "Perhaps I have." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, walking." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "And Miss Sutherland?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "And sit in the dark?" lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Yes." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "He is still with you, I presume?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "How often?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been me. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to it." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you 'please.'" the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. legal crime." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag tell them apart.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my My friend smiled. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Will you bet, then?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who learned something! Where are the gems?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a