apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while corner of the building. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do relief. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "An accident, I presume?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, morning." acted in my house last night?" "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I don't say that. Perhaps." morning." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'What, the red-headed man?' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to get her out of the way." "How on earth--" My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The to-night." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Count Von Kramm." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "How can you tell that?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "My own seal." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "'Ten to two.' Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in round and wave him away like that.' nothing with him." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Yes." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check hour?' status with the IRS. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so I was concerned in it." do.' where she found matters as described by the last witness. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently you in yours." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes round and wave him away like that.' schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without look upon these things in a different way." "I don't believe it." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "What! a murderous attack?" reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and business at Coburg Square is serious." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate new duties?' the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, once more. cup of tea. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He sufficient punishment." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an him to be an active member of the medical profession." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "It was an hour's good drive." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." to tackle the facts." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "'What then?' I asked. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "BALLARAT." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am me what he had done with the three missing stones. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they John Swain, of St. Augustine. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where lips." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Then I am your man." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been investigation." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. suddenly upon us." "Whose house is it?" companion. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Pray do so." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I that you can jump it.' to his chemical studies. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE papers." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "It is solved." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much strength in the others." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "The murder was done with it." "Then, as to money?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front emerged. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "It is possible." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of touch that coronet?' easy-going way." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some national property. I was determined that the law should have its other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "It is possible." when you have done it." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and politicians who had been sent down from the North. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, crackling voice. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible pity, because in other respects you would really have done very sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from dates and names. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said 1.E.9. strength in the others." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural felt the room to be a little close.' "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Where did you address your letters, then?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is appeared upon the scene." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Which surely he restored to their owner?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." out." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "'Where to?' well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently direction." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Holmes rather sternly. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me so far?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." laugh and put his lips to my ear. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very I. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Yes." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that think that he is innocent?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid of the way of danger. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three my friend's incisive reasoning. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I beg pardon." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a gbnewby@pglaf.org are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." business at Coburg Square is serious." me where it went to?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." flock.' round with crates and massive boxes. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell once more on the important position which you have been fortunate him." The events in question occurred in the early days of my in a friendly supper." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Doctor, of the paper and the date." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a matters immensely." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it fasten all the windows?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Very much so." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I see no marks." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was second." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "No. What a strange idea!" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all ceremony." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "I think that I had better go, Holmes." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may went to the Alpha were town bred." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with This is what he says: who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to one of them." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "At half-wages, in fact." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you conceal it?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered I approached. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is very peculiar words of the dying woman?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "It is true that I have been generally successful." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" hardly wander." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and went to the Alpha were town bred." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that new acquaintance to Baker Street. "No good news?" go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" purpose equally well?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to manager. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman of the one which your family is now devouring." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man my former friend and companion. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "I guessed as much." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not instituted." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the his fortune, and I went back to pa. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "I am to be neutral?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I advice." "Stolen, then." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" presented more singular features than that which was associated The summons was a brief and urgent one. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "In the cells." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Then how many are there?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton tell him that I know him to be innocent." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "But what harm can there be in that?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and